Alan Beddow.

Conference Security Lockdown

2011-09-19T11:26:00.001Z

Security at the conference this Autumn has crossed the line from reasonable to plain daft. On the way in this morning I had a small padlock confiscated. I carry it on my laptop bag so I can lock my bag when on the tube. The conference organisers had instructed security not to allow locks (even small ones like mine) in case I chained myself to anything.

I wouldn't mind, but I have already been screened by the Police and sent in a note from my mom, so you would have thought any delegates finally allowed in would be considered safe.

Following the confiscation a few of us were then held in the security tent due to another security lock down. The police won't say what the issue was, but I suspect it was something to do with the gentleman I was earlier with a shoelace undone.

Its always dangerous trying to kettle Liberals and after a few minutes we had formed a Liberation committee and had already got around to agreeing the agenda for the first meeting to decide the wording of a strongly worded letter, when the doors opened and they let us go about our business.

This amused me.

2011-07-21T21:01:00.001Z

Watch "Hackgate: The Movie" on YouTube

Baked Sweet Potato with spring onion, cabbage and bacon

2011-06-23T19:15:00.002Z

Just invented this great dish - very quick, delicious and healthy.

One Sweet Potato (or a normal one)
1 glove garlic thinly sliced
2 spring onions sliced
1 rasher of bacon, with the rind removed sliced into small squares - (or you can use Lardons, sliced meats, pancetta, bresola, anything really)
A few cabbage leaves finely shredded (chiffonade) you should end up with a large handful.
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
A spoonful of wholegrain mustard
A dollop of creme fraiche
A little Parmesan
Ground black pepper

Bake the potato - microwave or the traditional way in the oven. If you are using an oven wait till the potato is about 10 minutes to completion. If microwaving start the next bit straight away.

Meanwhile in a frying pan or wok, heat some olive oil and fry up the sliced garlic till just starting to turn golden, then add the spring onions.

Add the chopped bacon (or whatever you are using) and fry till the fat has started to render out

Add the Cumin seeds and fry till they start to pop. Add the cabbage and fry till the colour turns deeper and it starts to soften.

The baked potato should now be ready. Put it on a plate and open it out, mash the inside a little.

Turn off the heat on the pan or wok. Add the mustard and the creme fraiche and give it a good stir - but not too much, you don't want the creme fraiche to melt and go watery.

Pour into the potato, grate on a little parmesan and a black pepper.

‘God Particle’ Supercollider Experiment may open doors to other dimensions

2011-02-01T14:46:00.001Z

‘God Particle’ Supercollider Experiment may open doors to other dimensions Top CERN Boffin admits.

IT news site - The Register reported this afternoon that Scientists believe there is a serious chance that dimension portal events will soon be generated by the Large Hadron Collider.

CERN’s Dr Bertolucci previously briefed the Register on the Theory of Supersymmetry, which suggests that space-time actually has up to ten dimension. Bertolucci explained that the LHC might cause a "door" to "an extra dimension" to open up admitting "Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it".

The Register did admit in a footnote that until the planned upgrade of the CERN LHC planned after its regular shutdown at Christmas 2012 such inter-dimensional doors were unlikely to be large enough to allow through any ‘Dark Deities’.

Warwick does not want Fraud Lord

2011-01-25T20:41:00.000Z

You would have thought that Lord Taylor of Warwick, as a barrister could have come up with a better defence than, "it had been a common practice among peers to claim for fake journeys and enter expenses claims with a false address as a main residence."

Lord Taylor in spite of facing a possible prison sentence will get to keep his title. Perhaps to protect the good name of our town we should petition the Lords to change his title to something more appropriate, Lord Taylor of Pentonville perhaps.

This all goes to show how much the system desperately needs an overhaul. We can now sack our MPs which is a huge leap forwards. We are going to have a referendum on our electoral system this year, so lets finish the job and create a properly accountable elected second chamber.

Guest Post from my student son, Luke Beddow on Tuition Fees

2010-12-08T22:22:00.002Z

I’d like to announce a change in your regularly scheduled programming. I am not Alan Beddow. My name is Luke, and today I’m going to be your guest columnist. I am twenty-one years old. I am a student. I am also Alan’s son, and should point out that the views I express here do not necessarily reflect those of my father.

Earlier this year I voted, for the first time, in a general election. I was riding on an orange-coloured wave of enthusiasm. I hoped, without daring to believe, that this time things might be different. Political hope was a new feeling for me, and I liked it.

Last night, sitting in a Whetherspoon’s pub reading the subtitles on Sky News, I felt its opposite. For the first time in my life I felt a sense of deep, helpless political anger. The news ticker said that all Lib Dem MPs had agreed to vote in favour of higher tuition fees. How could they do this to us? Hadn’t they signed a pledge to oppose a rise in tuition fees?

I study at Birmingham City University. The English department there is a small but thriving community. Everybody there knows all of the staff and most of the students in their year group by name. In the past few months though, the tension in the department had been hanging in the air like a Dickensian pea-souper. One senior member of staff reportedly offered to take a ten per cent pay cut, if others did the same, in order to help combat the problems caused by proposed budget points; another has expressed hope that the government would u-turn over the proposals. As I watched the yellow news ticker run along the bottom of the screen, I knew there was almost no hope of that happening now. And I felt there was nothing I could do.

So I sent my dad a text message. When he replied he pointed out that while ‘ideally all uni fees should be paid by the state’ the country simply can’t afford to do that at the moment, and that the increase in tuition fees will come with ‘an increase in support for those from lower incomes and an increase in threshold where you have to pay it back’. This helped to dull my worries, as always, there is more to the story than the media like to admit, but I still feel deeply uneasy.

Interestingly, the view that all tuition fees should be paid by the state is one that my dad shares with David, a mature student on my course, who has generally voted Conservative. When I asked David how he felt about the tuition fees he explained that his reasoning is that if graduates are beneficial to the state, it follows that the state should pay for them. He also believes that the money students get should be means-blind. An opinion I understand. I have a housemate who only qualifies for the lowest level of financial support, but her parents have their own debts to pay, and so she has to survive on what little she can earn.

So, the rise in tuition fees is a situation which nobody wants, at this stage though, it seems unavoidable. While there are things being proposed which might improve the current system I’m still a little angry at the government for not suggesting a better solution, and I’m still worried about what it will mean for higher education as a whole. Tomorrow the liberal democrats face a decision which goes against one of their key principles. I understand that there may not be much they can do about it, but if they vote in favour of the tuition fees, they run the risk of seeming, to a large section of their supporters, to be breaking a promise. To a party who put so much importance on breaking form the political status quo, this could be devastating.

Housing Benefit - Labour Hypocracy and Distorted Market

2010-10-31T20:00:00.003Z

"Our goal is to make responsibility the cornerstone of our welfare state. Housing Benefit will be reformed to ensure that we do not subsidise people to live in the private sector on rents that other ordinary working families could not afford. And we will continue to crack down on those who try to cheat the benefit system."

(Labour Manifesto 2010 General Election, page 20.)

A colleague explained to me the other day that in many areas of the country the cost of rented accommodation matches the amount the government will pay in housing benefit..

As Brian Turner writes in Finance Markets,

"The truth is that landlords have been shafting councils for Housing Benefit for decades. And because the public sector has been forced to put so much taxpayer money into the market, it has artificially inflated rents for everyone. Let’s be clear – there is going to be no mass exodus of “the poor” from cities across Britain.The most likely reality is that landlords who leech the housing benefit system will be forced to cut rents."

I have suspected for some time that housing benefit was distorting the market, so perhaps we will not have ethnic cleansing of our inner cities after all, all that may happen is landlords will have to start charging rates that the market will stand as opposed to the rates the government will pay and working people without the luxury of housing benefit may be able to afford to live close to where they work once more.

Labour were right to put this in their manifesto, its a shame they are so caught up in coalition bashing to recognise the government implementing one of their own policies

Trail by Television

2010-10-20T08:32:00.001Z

A German TV show, Tatort Internet modelled on a Texan show, To Catch a Predator plumbs new depths in reality TV. Actors posing as underage children attempt to entrap Peadophiles in internet chat rooms and are then filmed confronted with the TV presenter posing as an angry mother.

This Jeremy Beadle style trial by television witch hunt is wrong on so many levels not least because reducing child abuse to subject of reality TV entertainment denegrates the seriousness of the issue; and not to mention that trial by media follows no due process short circuiting the legal process to protect the innocent.

The Gen Xer's Guide to Mainframes

2010-10-07T09:55:00.000Z

For my new project I am having to learn all about Mainframe Computers, the level of knowledge that has seen me through a lifetimes career in IT; "they are big blue things" is now way out of date, not least because as I found out the other day they are now painted black.

So I found these interesting articles on Mainframe Computers 'The Gen Xer's Guide to Mainframes.

Part 1 - http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/mainframe/enewsletterexclusive/20410p1.aspx
Part 2 - http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/mainframe/enewsletterexclusive/20679p1.aspx
Part 3 - http://www.ibmsystemsmag.com/mainframe/enewsletterexclusive/20924p1.aspx

Hitting Tax Avoidance and Cutting Red Tape part of deficit reduction - Alexander.

2010-09-19T15:29:00.001Z

Danny Alexander's speech this morning in Liverpool was well attended as he outlined that although going into coalition was not the easy thing to do, it was the right thing to do.

Reading some of the revelations from recent political memoirs, Danny explained that we have replaced One party at war with itself - with Two parties working together for the good of the country.

Danny also outlined a few things the Government is going to do to balance the budget. Necessary as the previous Government borrowed one pound in four that it spent, doubling the national debt and left us with the biggest deficit in the G20. We have to clean up Labour’s mess to get the economy moving.

A key announcement is the plan to crackdown on Tax Avoidance, bringing in £7Bn over the term of Parliament; this will include higher earners using tax avoidance schemes which may prove popular with the rest of us who want to know we are not the only ones sharing the burden.

Many targets and red tape in the public sector will be scrapped, empowering public servants, saving money and improving services. The vast amount of waste and shear frustration from the police, teachers and the medical profession was a theme I came across time and again during the general election.

These announcements won’t take away all the pain of the cuts to come, but at least a couple of areas I wanted to see addressed, tax avoidance and wasteful beaurocracy will be included in the plan.

Coalition Government appoints former CIO to help cut costs.

2010-07-01T12:10:00.007Z

Even as a critical friend of the new coalition government my approval of initiatives has so far been restrained to nodding acceptance. After 7 weeks in the new government has come up with something I find very encouraging, and is a step in the direction of something I passionately believe in, and have campaigned for.

"I have long believed that IT can deliver better public services at a lower cost".

Now this may not be the perception from the public who has been given the impression that IT is a colossal waste of money and invariably fails. Of course there have been high profile government IT failures and having worked in both Public and Private sector IT I have a pretty shrewd idea where some of the issues lie.

After-all if IT had failed to deliver any benefits to the commercial sector the industry would have died out sometime in the mid 1950's and would have been seen as a passing fad.*

Today The Register reported that the new government has appointed Ian Watmore the former givernment CIO to become the head of the new Efficiency and Reform Group - I see this as a massive step in the right direction.

The Cabinet Office said Watmore will work with the chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, at tackling waste looking for efficiencies in ICT, procurement, project management, property and HR.

* Note - My careers advisor when I was taking my A Levels who doubled up as a French teacher told me not to go into IT as it was only a passing phase and soon the bubble would burst. Advice I remember to this day.

Alan's pre-budget statement.

2010-06-22T09:55:00.002Z

Every minute that goes by the government spends a staggering £80,000 on interest - that's about the same as my mortgage which will take me a lifetime to pay back.

Should I buy and I-Pad and what would I use it for?

2010-06-07T16:51:00.003Z

I visited an Apple store during my lunch hour to take a look at the new I-Pad. I have to admit I am tempted. As the store only had the most expensive models in stock checked my impulse buy and a period of reflection.

I like the way that Apple stores are set out to actively encourage you to play with the products. From the age of 14 when I started to take an unhealthy interest in technology Dixons shop assistants we constantly discouraging me from teaching myself programming on Saturday mornings in the very early ‘80s and so I find this approach refreshing. (Note to self:- I should have asked out the girl that asked me to dance at Anthony’s party, while I was trying to be hard with my mates and our halves of lager.)

I do like the I-Pad, the look and feel of it and the way in which I can interact with the content in ways that I cannot on my laptop or PC. There are a few niggling issues that helped stave off that impulse to buy the top end model solely on the basis that I could have one now.

As Andrew Clarke pointed out to me via Facebook on the day of its launch, the I-Pad does not play media clips from the BBC website. Given that I most want an I-Pad to be able to interact with some of my favourite websites from the comfort of my sofa this is a drawback. I understand there is some industry politics going on which I won’t go into here.

It would be useful if I could get the I-Pad to synch with my Address Book, Contacts List, To Do and Notepad. This is a set of personal data that I have maintained for well over a decade now and has lived and migrated across a range of devices, currently sitting on Lotus Notes on my Laptop which I use for work, my Blackberry and my Palm Pilot. As there is only one of me, I took the decision years ago to maintain one diary and this has stood me in good stead.

The bright young sales assistant helped me come to the conclusion that there was no way of achieving this easily.

The Mobile-Me service at around £60 per year is not a satisfactory solution to this dilemma, it does not easily synch with Lotus Notes and is a cloud based solution ideal if all you own are Apple devices and are prepared to pay for the privilege. There are Apps that may do this from the server, however I doubt I could or indeed should attempt to connect an I-pad to my company’s intranet, what I wish to do is synch directly from my .nsf file on my laptop. There may be a way of synching with Outlook or through my personal Yahoo Mail yet that may extend my synching chain from Palm - Lotus Notes – Blackberry – Outlook – Yahoo Mail – I-Pad, which is far too many links in the chain and do I really want to be bothered.

So I have to accept that the I-Pad will not do all of the things my PC will do and perhaps that does not matter, its about understanding what an I-Pad is and what its for. If I want to make a phone call I use my phone. If I want to write a document, create a spreadsheet or a project plan, that is work and I will do that at my desk on my PC or Laptop.

I really want an I-pad to belong in the living room, next to my sofa. I want to browse the net, listen to music, watch on line content (BBC clips excluded), check my social networking, read online newspapers. Currently to do that I either have to sit in my office, which is too much like working and I do enough of that. Or I undock my laptop and bring it downstairs, which annoys the cat and still does not give me the tactile interaction with content where the I-Pad really scores.

The I-pad is a great product, its not a PC, perhaps I don’t need it to be, it would have a use in my living room, I just need to work out what it is, what’s its for and can I justify the price. Or do I wait until something else comes on the market, a tablet PC perhaps?

David Laws.

2010-05-29T20:03:00.002Z

I feel very sad for David Laws who resigned this afternoon. As Julian Glover puts it in the Guardian, "This is a scandal – if it is a scandal – caused by one man's inability to face up to his sexuality, not a desire to fiddle expenses."

David Laws was respected as an honorable man and was proving to be a great asset to this country through his work at the Treasury. I hope the media respect his wishes and give him and his family the space they need at the moment.

Iain Roberts has a good analysis of the situation in his Blog.

Compensation for Equitable Life victims is long overdue

2010-05-27T15:12:00.003Z

Local victims of the Equitable Life collapse can finally expect compensation as Liberal Democrat MPs push forward new legislation.

Some of our local firms had pension schemes with Equitable Life. Many of my colleagues were affected and I had many letters and emails from people during the general election who were worried that years of saving would amount to nothing.

The previous Government continually ignored the millions of people who lost their savings. The Equitable Life Bill, which was outlined to the House of Commons on Wednesday, will give the Treasury the authority to make payments to policyholders or dependents who have been fighting the Labour Government for compensation since 2000.

I am delighted that we are using our position in Government to give policyholders the money they deserve.

Thanks for all your support.

2010-05-08T15:28:00.006Z

I just want to say thank you for all your support during the general election. Your support, hard work and encouragement really made a difference to me personally and locally leaving our party here in Warwick & Leamington stronger than ever. This afternoon during a quick trip to Leamington many people stopped me in the street with words of encouragement, which I really appreciate.

Nationally It is clear that no party has been granted an overall majority. It has been a mixed set of results for all of the major parties. We had some disappointing losses and at the same some stunning results such as Redcar where we won on a massive 25% swing.

There is a lot of media speculation over what may happen next and it is clear that Nick Clegg and his team are holding their nerve, after all we have been preparing for the eventuality of a balanced parliament for a long time. I am sure we are not going to give that away lightly.

As the Conservatives gained the most seats and highest share of the vote it is only right, as Nick has stated right from the start that they be given the opportunity to form a government. Whether this is possible; with or without our support will be subject to discussions over the coming days.

This morning Nick spoke on his way into meetings with key advisers and our new Parliamentary team. He was clear that he would press our case for our four priorities - tax reform to make the system fairer, a "new approach" to education to give a "fair start" to all children, the economy and "fundamental political reform to our political system".

It is clear from the Unlock Democracy demonstration supporting electoral reform this afternoon that there is a lot of support for electoral reform as key to these discussions, something I find encouraging.

Back here in Warwick & Leamington we continue to hold our District and County councils to account as the effective opposition. Our leadership of Leamington Town Council is recognised across the country as outstanding.

Lib-Dem Pub Policy

2010-05-05T20:40:00.004Z

I think I've missed a trick in this campaign. The other week a landlord in Warwick told me how much he liked our policies on pubs. This evening a landlord in Leamington asked me about them. Not that I have spent the entire campaign in the pub you understand, yet it seems having a quick read to refresh my memory I could have done a lot worse.

I especially like the part about relaxing the rules on Live Music and I think overall our policy to support this great British institution is spot on.

Liberal Democrats have a proud history of championing British heritage and tradition. We will address the issues facing pubs to enable them to compete with the offlicence alcohol trade to preserve these valuable social and community assets.

We will create a more equal playing field for pubs by preventing supermarkets from selling below-cost alcohol. Supermarkets and off-licences selling alcohol at pocket-money-prices have undercut the pub trade and contributed to the binge drinking culture. We will set up an independent panel to consider the evidence for a fuller scheme of minimum pricing for alcohol.

We will also reduce the burden of bureaucratic licensing requirements which prevents pubs from putting on live music events. We will re-introduce the “two in a bar’’ rule allowing two performers of unamplified music in any licensed premises without the need for an entertainment licence. We will also exempt small venues from the requirement to apply for a new licence if they want to host live music performances. However we will provide for a review if local residents object.

Local pubs often form the social hub of a community, strengthening local social networks as well as facilitating many local services, events and activities which contribute to local life. These can include: hosting a range of important public services such as running post offices, and general stores; and providing a place for local charities, sports clubs and civic groups to host meetings and activities. We believe that every effort should be made to keep local pubs open and that where pub companies are seeking to sell community pubs, the community and current lessee should have the opportunity to buy the business at a fair market price.

In addition we will address issues in planning legislation that make it difficult for communities to protect and preserve their pubs.

Carers, Farmers, Schools and Motorbikes.

2010-04-28T16:59:00.002Z

Over the past few days I have been asked to talk to Carers, Farmers, Businesses, Schools and Bikers. This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of being a candidate and something I have built up a talent for in my own job; talking to people and understanding their own particular issues.

A theme running through listening various groups is how the previous government has been fixated with measurements, control and bureaucracy often with unintended consequences. It seems to me that if government cut back on much of this control and let people get on with Nursing, Teaching, Caring or any number of things they do, it would cost this country a lot less money and we would all get a better service.

Talking to the Farmers this afternoon, we could improve things a lot by breaking up Defra to create a ministry that looks after Farming and Food production (we could call it MAFF) and put a minister in charge that actually knows something about farming, rather than an MP for Leeds.

Its time to put a bit of common sense back into politics.

Castle Hill Baptist Church - Questions

2010-04-25T20:06:00.002Z

Had a great meeting at Castle Hill Baptist Church this evening, met some great people and discussed many issues.

One theme was to respect each others right of conscience, which lead to an interesting debate including the right of MPs to vote according to their consciences, which I totally agree and the right of people to celebrate their religious views which has been in the news recently on such issues as wearing religious symbols.

I have yet to meet anyone offended by for example Christians wearing a cross so why should it be an issue.

Campaigning in Warwick and Leamington

2010-04-25T11:09:00.001Z

A lot of people have contracted me over the past week offering support and encouragement.

It has been hard work balancing a full time job and campaigning, taking part in public debates, radio and TV interviews and answering hundreds of emails. I finished work on Friday for the election so I now have some time to catch up.

It has been a fantastic time getting around our towns, meeting some tremendous people involved in all aspects of life here in Warwick, Leamington & Whitnash. It reminds me why we are so lucky to live here.

Over the past couple of weeks this campaign has suddenly got really exciting. We have the opportunity to build something new, a real change in this country!

I'm standing for election as a Liberal Democrat because I believe our area, our region and our country deserves something better. Not change for changes sake or yet more empty promises - but well thought out, honest and fair policies that deliver the real changes people want to see.

We can build sustainable, green economy to lead us out of the recession. The best possible education no matter where you are born. A healthcare system fit for the 21st century. Those are just some of things the Liberal Democrats can deliver.

I've lived in both Warwick and Leamington for about 15 years. It is a great place to work, live and socialise - although we do have our share of problems too. Jobs, health, education, crime - they are all concerns for local people. I'm not a professional politician or a PR person. I work in IT so I'm used to dealing with complex issues, talking to people, and getting the job done.

What I offer the people of Warwick and Leamington is that I will work for you - and you alone. No special interests. No spin. No lies. If you want real change vote Liberal Democrat on May 6th.

If you can help our campaign please email me. alan_beddow@yahoo.co.uk

Comment on housing development sites.

2010-04-09T15:21:00.001Z

Just a quick reminder. You can comment on new sites being considered for housing development by following the link below.

http://warwickdc.jdi-consult.net/ldf/readdoc.php?docid=17&docelemid=d1176#d1176

Warwick School Bouncathon

2010-03-20T15:31:00.003Z

I adjudicated at the Warwick School World Record Bouncathon this afternoon. This attempt by the boys to break the world record of bouncing on a bouncy castle which currently stands at 26 Hours. At the same time they hope to raise over £1000 for the NSPCC

The team of eight boys will be bouncing through the night. I wish them the best of luck with the rest of their marathon.

Warwick Town Centre Plan

2010-03-19T15:37:00.002Z

I've just had a look at the Warwick Town Centre Plan. The consultation is available on the website its worth a look as this is our chance to have a say on how the town may develop in the future.

Warwick University Interview - Just Vote 2010 Campaign

2010-03-18T15:01:00.003Z

I have just seen the Just Vote 2010 interview recorded for the Warwick Uni Just Vote 2010 campaign which was launched last Friday. Its important for students to vote as it will force Politicians to listen to the issues that students care about.

You can see the interview on U-Tube.

Raw Radio Interview

2010-03-04T17:21:00.003Z

I've just been listening to the interview I did a week or so ago for Raw Radio the award winning student radio station at the University of Warwick.

They recorded a News Special exploring the issues at stake in forthcoming general election. Questions included Student Fees, the Iraq War, the economy and who is Jedward!

I am putting fairness at the heart of the Liberal Democrat campaign

2010-01-12T21:12:00.003Z

People in Warwick and Leamington are rightly frustrated with their politicians. I am going into the election with a clear direction and a manifesto that is short, direct and to the point.

Fairer Taxes
We will introduce fairer taxes by closing loopholes for the richest, introducing a tax on mansions and tax cuts of £700 for everyone else.

Fair Start for every Child
If your child is at a local school we can promise investment to help reduce class sizes, improve discipline and develop one-to-one tuition.

Fairer & Cleaner Politics
We would also give you the right to sack your MP. The Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to real change of our political system, flushing out big money and corrupt donors and reducing the number of MPs by 150.

Fairer and Sustainable Economy
And we will rebuild the economy in every part of Britain in a way that promotes green technology and creates lasting jobs. We will put an end to casino banking, bring back competition and support local entrepreneurs to make sure businesses in Warwickshire can find the money they need to grow.

The coming months are a crucial time for politics and I will be using them to focus on these four priorities and delivering real change for Warwick and Leamington.

Fire Plan Ploy

2009-12-24T13:48:00.003Z

Last week the Conservative Council Cabinet announced delays to the decision to close Warwickshire Fire Stations. With a General Election only months away my fear is this is only a ploy to delay the decision until after the election.

Local people deserve better than an open ended plan to bring proposals back 'some time in the future'. I would like to see these ill thought through plans scrapped altogether. The closures have proved deeply unpopular. Even our own fire fighters and neighbouring fire services have criticised the plan.

Plans put forward by the Conservative cabinet at the county council, would mean the closure of both Warwick and Kenilworth fire stations leaving just the station in Leamington to cover all three towns and surrounding areas.

With consultation on the proposals having closed on 8th December it was intended that the Cabinet would consider the proposals in January and then a final decision on changes would be made at a County Council meeting in February.

That timetable has now been abandoned, but despite pressure from Liberal Democrat councillors at the meeting to scrap the plans altogether no indication was given by the ruling Conservatives as to when plans would be brought back to the Council.

Damning Report from Neighbouring Fire Service.

2009-12-24T13:17:00.006Z

As promised I have now had time to read the damning report from neighbouring Hereford & Worcester fire service on the plans to close fire stations across Warwickshire, including Warwick.

Its simply not good enough to postpone the decision, possibly until after the General Election. (do the Tories think we are stupid!) Its time to put an end to these plans altogether.

Here are some extracts from the report.

Page 57 - points 12 and 17 their Chief Fire Officer, Paul Hayden summarises his concerns.

Our evaluation suggests that the scale of reductions being proposed will leave Warwickshire without sufficient resilience to deal with routine operations without a significant increase in requests for over the border mutual aid from neighbouring Authorities such as ourselves. Our concern is not simply in relation to the reduction in resources proposed along our immediate border area, but that the reductions proposed across Warwickshire would adversely impact their ability to resource day-to-day activity.

On the basis of evidence Warwickshire has provided, and in light of the above issues, I have grave concerns that proposals to reduce front-line resources across Warwickshire would have a directly adverse impact on communities in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

You can read this report in full here.
Go to section 10 page 55.
I welcome your comments.

Fire Service Review Plans Delayed.

2009-12-16T09:25:00.002Z

It looks as though the County Council have delayed the review of the Fire and Rescue Service. In spite of calls for clarification from our Lib-Dem councilors no indication has been given by the ruling
Conservatives as to when plans would be brought back to the Council.

Now the cynical amongst us might conclude that plans will be delayed until after the General Election, as the Tory councils plans have been very unpopular with the Tory MPs and Candidates and they have been doing everything they can to distance themselves from it.

We will just have to see.

Warwick Fire Service March

2009-12-06T16:37:00.005Z

Many of us in Warwick attended the Demonstration against the planned closure of Warwick Fire Station today. The proposals are part of a county wide review of the Fire Service. If they go ahead will mean the closure of Warwick and Kenilworth fire stations leaving just Leamington to cover all three towns and surrounding areas. This will impact all three towns.

Everyone I spoke to on the march today are deeply suspicious of the response times between Leamington and Warwick that we were given in the consultation documents. We have every reason to be. Documents unearthed by Lib-Dem councilors across the county, who all oppose these closures show that the risk will actually go up.

You can find links to these documents in my previous posting. Have a read of the risk assessment which paints a very different picture to that given in the documents we were given as part of the consultation.

Given the massive support today I hope the Conservative Councillors on the County Council will see sense, read their own risk report and put an end to these risky plans and keep our fire stations open.

Warwick Fire Station Facts.

2009-12-04T14:23:00.005Z

On Sunday the 6th December independent councilor Karen Scarrott will be organising a march to save Warwick Fire Station. Karen has kindly invited all of the Parliamentary Candidates for Warwick.

During the public meeting we attended in September we were told our response to the consultation should be based on Fact rather than Emotion. Yet we left the meeting with many questions unanswered.

That is why l have been working with my Lib-Dem colleagues across Warwickshire to dig out the facts using ‘Freedom of Information Requests’.

Below I have posted links to all of these documents - I hope you find them as useful as I have.

The Risk Review report in particular contains a lot of important information which we are entitled to see, so we can make a considered and informed response to the consultation process.

Documents you should see.

DNV Risk Review - Full Report
This is the Det Norske Veritias risk report commissioned by the county council dealing with the proposed changes to our fire service. This report is the most vital report for us to read about these plans to our fire service.

Operational Assessment Peer Review (I&DeA)
Cabinet Report - Chief Fire Officer

Martin Turner's Comparison Report
Martin Turner is my colleague in Stratford upon Avon. He has produced an excellent report examining the information provided in the Det Norske Veritias risk report and the information provided to us as part of the consultation.

Warwick District Council Savings - Reduce Councillors Costs.

2009-12-01T12:21:00.003Z

I've just been completing the survey many of us have been sent on the services provided by Warwick District Council.

One question looks at the proportion of our council tax spent on various services and asks us how we would like to apportion the money.

It is not surprising that there is no option to reduce the cost of Councilors Allowances so that we can spend it on something useful such as travel for elderly or disabled for example.

Since the council has been controlled by the Conservatives there has been a marked increase in the number of councilors who receive additional allowances.

Now I have no issue with Councilors receiving reasonable allowances, after all many do a lot of work on our behalf and many take reduced hours and pay cuts from their day jobs. Yet the number of Conservative Councilors who have additional allowances for 'extra responsibilities', in cabinet or chairing committees for example has increased.

I would certainly like to see more of our money spent on services to us in Warwick District and less on putting more snouts in the trough.

It appears to me that this is jobs for the boys. (or girls)

Finally the Council Fire Service documents are made public!

2009-10-19T15:10:00.002Z

Following sustained pressure from the Liberal Democrats success was achieved today, with the posting on the Warwickshire web site of the Cabinet report and two background reports.

At the Warwick consultation we were told our response must be based on fact rather than emotion and yet the Conservative cabinet were withholding this very information. Too much of the information has had to dragged out by requests from the Lib Dems.

You can find a link to these documents on the Local Lib Dem website.

Secret Tory Report on Fire Service Proposals

2009-10-11T10:11:00.003Z

After sustained pressure from my Lib Dem colleagues on the County Council, the management summary of a report presented to the Conservative Cabinet in July, based on which it decided to consult on the closure plan have been made public.

The Tory Cabinet initially refused to make this document public in spite of freedom of information requests by Lib-Dems.

Yesterday however following sustained pressure from Lib-Dem county councillors, Warwickshire County Council agreed to release the Executive Summary of the consultants' report on which the recommendations to Cabinet had been based, and today they have gone further and agreed to release a version of the full report in the near future.

When I attended the public meeting on Monday we all felt we were not being given the full picture. The information given to us was sketchy. We were also told that our responses to the consultation needed to be based on fact rather than emotion. Difficult when the facts were being kept from us.

The report can be found on the Kenilworth & Southam Lib-Dem website where they are fighting the same campaign to stop the Tories from closing Kenilworth Fire Station. It is important that these campaigns run together as closing Warwick and Kenilworth will place a huge strain on the remaining Leamington Fire Station leaving all three towns dependant upon just one fire station.

I am gravely concerned about response times, at the meeting Fire Chiefs admitted that activity for incidents peaked around 6pm. This is the same time as roads between Warwick and Leamington are heavily congested.

The management summary admits in the section marked 'uncertainties' that it "makes use of national calculations of the effects of response time, whereas local models would be preferable".

We cannot make decisions to close fire stations in two of our largest towns in the county on uncertainties. It is time to scrap these plans. If we do need to review our fire service then the conservative council need to do their homework.

3 Things you can do to Save Warwick Fire Station

2009-10-07T20:00:00.002Z

The Conservative County Council want to close Warwick Fire Station. Liberal Democrats Councillors are opposing this closure.

There are 3 things you can do to keep up the pressure to Save our Fire Station.

Complete the consultation
Complete the consultation form and return it to the Fire and Rescue Service Deadline for return is 8th December 2009 - we strongly urge you to wait until after the meeting on November 10th to complete the form. You can download a copy of the form from http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ and follow the Fire Service web site.

Write a Letter
Write a letter to go with the form The fire service want to use computer modelling to analyse the results - there is no guarantee any extra comments will be read in detail. We suggest you send a hard copy form with a covering letter to ensure that your views are recorded.

Lobby the Councillors
Lobby the Conservative County Councillors - Help them see sense.
Lib-Dem councillors on the county council have already decided to opposing the closure of Warwick Fire Station, so the decision will be down to the Conservatives who are proposing the closure.

Please write to the Conservative Fire and Rescue Portfolio Holder, Cllr R Hobbs (Conservative), Warwickshire County Council, Shire Hall, Warwick CV34 4SA.

Warwick Fire Station Consultation

2009-10-05T21:32:00.000Z

I’ve just got back from a consultation on the proposed closure of Warwick Fire Station at Myton School this evening. The meeting was very well supported by my estimate over 100 people all against the proposed closure.

The key argument against the closure made by residents is that we do not believe response times can be maintained if Warwick Fire Station is closed. The information provided with the consultation does not appear to stack up. There are only two roads between Leamington and Warwick and these get clogged up during peak times, especially from the end of school in the afternoon through to the evening rush hour.

During the consultation the Fire Officer admitted that the peak activity time was between 2pm and 10pm. He described this as a bell curve, which would place the actual peak at 6pm, right around the evening rush hour.

I have asked for more information on this along with a revised map showing the response rates plotted at this time of day, taking into consideration the traffic at 6pm with and without Warwick Fire Station included.

I will let you know when I get this information.

In the meantime you can take part in the consultation from the County Council Website.

Independant Safeguarding Authority - Lets apply a bit of common sense.

2009-10-01T21:00:00.004Z

I have just had an email from a local arts group that is considering excluding children and young people from their organisation because they are unable to cope with the Beaurcracy involved in the new Independant Safeguarding Authority.

This is the new Government quango set up as a knee jerk reaction to child protection by assuming we are all Paedophiles unless we can prove otherwise.

I have always felt that one of the great things about living in Warwick and Leamington are the wide range of activities and groups available to people of all ages. This helps build a cohesive community that makes this area a great place to live and grow up.

Now I am all in favour of protecting our children, however I feel the latest government knee jerk reaction to the issue, simply throwing more beaurocracy at a problem will end up having the opposite effect.

Children benefit from having constructive interaction with people of all ages such as membership and involvement sports and arts groups. Otherwise we are creating a society in which: all adults are feared as potential paedophiles; children are left with nothing else to do but hang out on street corners getting into trouble and alienated from the rest of society; and adults fear having anything to do with children in case they are seen as abusers.

This does not paint a picture of a Britain I want to live in.

Bath Place Community Centre Fire

2009-09-24T16:50:00.004Z

I have just heard there has been a fire at Bath Place Community Centre in Leamington this afternoon. This is a real shame as the centre provided a fantastic space for a wide and diverse range of community events in that part of town. I have attended a number of musical and artistic events there over the years.

I hope this does not spell the end of this valuable facility and something of equal value can be created in its place.

http://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news83315.html

Britain needs to invest in our Digital Economy to remain a world leader in the 21st Century Knowledge Based Economy

2009-09-22T16:46:00.004Z

Yesterday I chaired a fringe event at the Lib-Dem conference on the Digital Economy.

Investing in the Digital Economy is vital to Warwick & Leamington where there are a significant number of Jobs, from global corporations such as IBM and Accenture to the computer games industry and high tech automotive research.

There is a lot talk about cuts in expenditure, yet at the same time investment in infrastructure, skills and enterprise is vitally needed in areas of our economy. Whatever comes out of the current economic crisis it is clear that information technology will play a large part. Britain is currently a world leader in IT. Yet Britain risks falling behind if we do not make investment, part of a clear strategy for economic recovery.

Fellow Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates took part in a Dragon’s Den to grill industry representatives on information society topics. The workshop addressed important issues such as child protection, jobs of the future and delivering public services at lower cost.

Philip Virgo, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Group on the information Society organising the event said, that most other issues would be irrelevant unless the UK can create, attract and retain the wealth-creating jobs of the future.

Shameless Fringe Plug - IT and the Internet

2009-09-10T22:41:00.004Z

I am posting a shameless plug for a conference fringe I am involved with as this event will be of particular interest to our on-line community.

IT and the Internet - Turning challenges into opportunities

Westbourne Suite Bournemouth International Centre Mon 21st Sept 1300-1400

Following the recent publication of the Governments ‘Digital Britain Report’, a Dragon's Den of Parliamentary Candidates grilling industry representatives on political priorities for the on-line world.

A hot buffet lunch and drinks will be provided.

As the UK becomes increasingly reliant on computers and the internet, the Parliamentary cross party alliance on the information society, EURIM brings together a panel of prospective parliamentary candidates to assess the importance of information society issues to their target voters.

Society is critically dependent on services delivered over the Internet. Those without good access risk becoming a new underclass. At the same time there are issues of child protection, fraud and other abuse.

Politicians need to look towards delivering better public services at less cost by reducing waste. Can a more practical approach to online systems help them achieve this goal?

Representatives from Nominet, who look after the .uk domain and run the UK "Internet Governance Best Practice" awards; global technology corporation IBM; and engineering and design consultants Atkins will present key information society issues including internet governance, employer mobility and delivering value for money in public services.

The panel will then assess importance of the issues raised for their own upcoming election campaigns.

Why dont we just use real trees?

2009-08-27T12:01:00.002Z

Engineers say a forest of 100,000 "artificial trees" could be deployed within 10 to 20 years to help soak up the world's carbon emissions. According to the BBC Website.

These are huge grey things about the size of shipping containers that could line our motorways.

My question is... Why dont we just use real trees.!

Real Women

2009-08-20T10:17:00.005Z

I've just read the 'Real Women' policy document from the Liberal Democrats. This is really good stuff aimed at 'real women' and the challenges they face.

"Women face pressure from all directions these days. Hit hard by the recession, trying to juggle family commitments with work and home life, it’s easy to feel like you’re running just to stand still. The media screams out an endless list of things still to do: get a bikini body in 20 days, plan the perfect children’s party, how to look 10 years younger. Despite great strides forward in equality, women still get paid less than men, and generally still end up taking more responsibility for childcare and looking after elderly relatives. This can be hugely rewarding, but combining this with a job can seem almost impossible."

To read more go to http://www.realwomen.org.uk/, Oh and I will be debating this issue at the Lib Dem conference next month and am interested to know what you think.

Alan.

Swine Flu

2009-07-10T16:37:00.004Z

I have been watching the swine flu outbreak since it started. The rate of cases were doubling every seven days until figures stopped being published a week ago. There are now around 9,700 cases in the UK with the West Midlands being one of the highest affected.

I prepared a briefing for work recently as I am running a large IT programme. This does not look like being the mass killer similar to 1918 spanish flu that some feared. However it could debilitate 60% of the working population if it peaks all in one go, due to infection and those looking after family. Some estimates suggest it could impact economic recovery by 2 years. Of course that assumes there is a recovery, but that is another discussion.

I do know that the NHS in Warwickshire are very prepared for this

There is some good advice on the NHS website.
This will help you diagnose your symptoms and tell you what to do.
You should then phone your doctor who will be able to confirm your symptoms and tell you what to do. There are centres around the county that can distribute medication if needed.

I don't think there is cause for panic. Though I have already stocked up on Lemsip and Chicken Soup just in case.

UK Digital Road to Recovery - Good for Warwick & Leamington

2009-07-08T21:55:00.002Z

Last Thursday I attended a meeting in Parliament organised by Eurim, a cross party group on the information society.We were discussing the recently published Digital Britain paper.

Anyone interested in IT and involved in the industry should read the management summary of this document, as it lays out the governments strategy for building our digital infrastructure. Why?

Isn't this just a collossal waste of tax payers money?

Well no. It will create jobs that will help stimulate the economy and it will leave us with the infrastructure Britain needs to compete in the 21st century economy and by applying IT to the delivery of public services we can get a better services, such as when we renew our tax disk and as tax payers we can make savings in public expenditure.

Warwick and Leamington are set to benefit from this. We have several large IT organisations & creative industries within our towns. We have the kind of towns that attract the skills to take advantage of this new economy.

Of course the interesting debate is, who will pay for all of this. My view is that private enterprise should be encouraged to build as much of this as possible. After all the internet has evolved soley through the private sector with little government involvement. Though where government needs to assist is with training the skills needed and investing in difficult to reach parts of the network.

Leamington Allotments Safe.

2009-06-05T16:26:00.003Z

Just catching up on some of the local news. It seems Leamington Allotments are safe from development. Concern was raised when the 'options for growth' consultation placed one of the options for 10,800 new homes right across some of Leamington's fantastic allotments.

Allotment holders across Leamington mounted a solid campaign to oppose this option and it looks as though, in spite of the conservative led District Councils 'gagging order' forbidding local councillors who have suported the campaign from speaking and voting on the issue the allotment holders in Leamington have managed to protect their plots.

That is great news.

Lib-Dems push Labour into third place in Warwick & Leamington.

2009-06-05T16:22:00.002Z

A momentous local election count at Stoneleigh today has left Labour floundering in Third place in the newly formed Warwick & Leamington constituency.

Labours support fell to 7% behind the Liberal Democrats close at the heels of the Conservatives who managed only a 3.6% lead on their Lib-Dem rivals.

I am delighted by the result. People have been telling me on the doorsteps that the state of the economy and the collapse of the government over the expenses scandal have played a major part in today’s result.

Vince Cable’s commentary on the economy and Nick Clegg’s call for a total reform of Westminster has shown that the Liberal Democrats are taking the lead on the serious issues we face in our country.

UKIP Myth about UK's £40M per day - They are simply making most of this up.

2009-05-29T17:05:00.003Z

UKIP claims that EU membership costs the UK £40m per day. This is total rubbish. I took part in a debate at a local school in Coventry a few months back and the UKIP representative made many wild claims that I could not even find supported in their own literature. I suspect they are double accounting or simply making the figures up!

Here are the facts backed up by various public sources of information.

The UK does make a net contribution to the EU, which varies year on year, but this year each person in the UK contributes £67 a year, or £1.29 per week, or 18p a day to the EU budget.

Britain pays similar amounts into the budget as do other countries of Britain’s size and wealth. It is only right that Britain makes a budget contribution, as we take all the benefits of EU membership, such as the 3 million British jobs linked to trade with other EU countries.[1]

Government Spending and net EU budget contributions:

Government spending 2008-09: £623bn, net EU contribution: £3bn[2] Government spending 2009/10: £671bn[3], net EU contribution: £4.1bn[4] (i.e. 0.6% of total government spending)

[1] http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/europeandtrade/europe/benefits-eu-membership/page22676.html
[2] Chart 1.1, 'Pre-Budget Report 2008' http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/prebud_pbr08_repindex.htm
[3] Chart 1.1, (page 12) 'Budget 2009: Building Britain's Future' http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/Budget2009/bud09_completereport_2520.pdf
[4] Footnote 3 of Table C9 (page 238) ) 'Budget 2009: Building Britain's Future' http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/Budget2009/bud09_completereport_2520.pdf

Democracy should not be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

2009-05-25T19:59:00.001Z

Its not just expenses, the whole thing needs reforming. Let’s just remind ourselves what has happened in Parliament in very recent years.

Allegedly members of the House of Lords have been taking cash in order to influence legislation.

It appears as though Political parties have been taking donations in exchange for political favours and honours. (Cash for Honours)

MPs have allegedly been taking money to ask questions in parliament. (Cash for Questions)

Now Parliament is supposed to be where decisions and legislation is made on OUR behalf. Democracy is something we give to our elected representatives at the ballot box, a bond of trust. It is not to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

It has been suggested that MPs with the safer seats are more likely to have been caught up in expenses scandals.

So here are some reforms I would like to see.

- Reform of the House of Lords. No more cash for honours.
- Electoral Reform. No more cosy safe seats, every vote counts anywhere in the country.
- We should be able to sack our MPs for breaching the trust we put in them. No more shuffling off to the back benches (on £64K salary) only to come back a few years later when we have all forgotten.
- Yes MPs can incur and be reimbursed for their expenses, reasonable second homes and running constituency offices. However these rules should be industrial strength, like the rules I have in the company I work for and those most people in industry and the civil service work under. No more stately homes, helipads and duck islands.
- MPs should not set the rules for benefit of their own exclusive little club. There should be an independent body that sets the rules and standards for OUR benefit.

After all we give Parliament their power at the ballot box and we are the ones paying for it.

Its only because we are Jealous of MPs large houses it seems.

2009-05-22T14:30:00.002Z

Tory grandee Anthony Steen claimed yesterday that he was the victim of "jealousy" among his Devon constituents who were envious of his large house. He said: "What right does the public have to interfere with my private life? None. You know what it's about? Jealousy. I've got a very, very large house."
Steen is clearly so out of touch with the constituents in his ‘safe’ seat, he may as well be living in a second home on Mars.
The public couldn’t care less about the size of his house…. It’s our having to pay for it and the 500 trees we had planted for him in its parkland we mind.

Picture - Steen's house and some of the trees we bought for him.

Bring back the Chartists.

2009-05-17T13:49:00.004Z

These past few weeks has seen a bloodbath in Westminster over the MP’s expenses issue. What started off as the subject of office jokes with Labour MP’s claims for bath plugs and porn films has turned to anger as we saw elaborate ‘flipping’ of second homes to maximise claims. The Tories have taken this to a whole new level with claims for chandeliers and moat cleaning for their stately homes.

As tax payers we have a right to be angry. I have never had an issue with MPs claiming reasonable expenses. When I travel on business I do the same, some of my colleagues live in rented accommodation in Worcester during the week. Industry has managed to cope with the issue in a manner that reimburses employees for reasonable expenses whilst ensuring no one makes a profit. For a start the inland revenue would never allow it.

In Westminster there has developed a culture of expenses being the right of many MPs. A system has developed that is so lax that it was simply asking to be abused.

A couple of years ago I challenged James Plaskitt MP, in the Courier over his support to MPs exemption to the freedom of information act. James claimed this was to protect the privacy of constituents, a weak claim as constituents privacy was catered for in other ways. I suggested at the time that this was more to protect MPs from scrutiny over their expenses.

I sense this is part of a deeper malaise in British Politics. Since being closer to politics over the past few years as a Parliamentary Candidate I have seen a system that is rotten to the core. Where dodgy funding can buy political favours. Dirty politics to undermine the opposition. Spin and carefully managed leaks, sexed up dossiers to influence public opinion.

Our elected representatives at any level of government should not forget that they are simply that, elected by us, to represent us so that they can take decisions on our behalf, for the smooth running of our towns, areas and country. It is a position of trust and privilege. Recent behaviour shows many treat this with contempt, no wonder Politicians are held in such low esteem.

It is easy to feel disillusioned with all politics, yet British history shows a long tradition of reformers who have successfully challenged the system and corruption from the Magna Carter to the Anti War demonstrations a few years ago.

My Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Thomas Attwood, was one of the founders of the Birmingham Political Union which was foremost among Chartist groups lobbying the government for the passage of the Reform Bill.

Like today Politics in the 1830’s had become corrupt. The aim of the movement was to, "take effectual measures for correcting diverse abuses that have long prevailed..."

Talking to people over the past few weeks, campaigning for the county elections it is clear, people are so disillusioned with politics in this country that we need a radical new Reform Bill to clear out the rot and build a parliament fit to govern this country in the 21st Century.

Picture - Alan Beddow with the statue of his Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Thomas Attwood MP in Chamberlin Square, Birmingham.

Douglas Hogg MP - Moat Cleaning Expenses

2009-05-11T21:19:00.006Z

I had thought I had heard it all about MP's expenses, but this week has plumbed new depths. Douglas Hogg, (who has his snout firmly in the trough) the former agriculture secretary, submitted a claim form for more than £2,000 for the moat around his country estate to be cleared. At tax payers expense.

What has become the subject of office jokes this week has turned into a farce. People I have spoken to over the past few weeks are angry that OUR tax payers money is being embezzled in this way, when schools are struggling for funding and there is a shortage of hospital beds.

Longbridge Roadworks Warwick

2009-04-21T11:30:00.003Z

Each day as I go to work I drive past the new Longbridge Bypass roadworks on the A46 M40 junction. I am not sure whether this will make my journey to work any easier when it is finished. There can often be huge queues on the bypass, especially at rush hour.

I found this website this lunchtime with lots of information on the work, pictures, plans and views of what it will be like when it is finished.

http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4730.aspx

What the Liberal Democrats stand for.

2009-02-27T11:47:00.002Z

For the Debate at North Leamington school this morning, I had a little homework to do. I was asked to speak for 3 minutes outlining what the Liberal Democrats stand for.

How do I describe what the Liberal Democrats stand for in just 3 minutes.

Well I would like to start by reading what it says on the back of my party card.

"The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of Liberty, equality and community and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity"

These are the principles which underpin all of our policies.

We believe in Free Market Economics,
Tempered by a sustainable outlook on the environment, financial security and sound social policies.

It is clear that if we have a society, with excellent schools and hospitals.
Good housing and facilities.
A world class transport system and infrastructure.
People will achieve the best from their skills and talents.

People will flourish within the framework of a free market
Which will generate wealth
And a fair system of taxation will pay for the social policies that create this climate of opportunity.

Our party and our policies are all about creating this balance.

We believe that government should start at the doorstep and work upwards
Rather than a nanny state looking down on us
Power should reside at the lowest possible level.

We are internationalist in our outlook
And believe institutions such as the UN and the European Union are essential in tackling the challenges we face in the 21st Century
Such as Climate Change, International Crime, third world poverty and the challenges of globalisation.
Though we would be the first to criticise these institutions and campaign for their reform.

We believe it is vital that we defend the rights and freedoms
That British people have fought for
and that have been held up as a model across the globe
rather than allow them to be eroded by a climate of fear.

We believe that by building a Free, Fair and sustainable society

We can ensure a prosperous future
Fit for the 21st Century
Respected by our neighbours
And built on the very best of British Traditions.

Question Time - North Leamington & Myton Schools. - Free Travel for Students?

2009-02-27T11:16:00.003Z

I spent this morning taking part in a question time style debate with sixth formers from North Leamington and Myton Schools.

I enjoy taking part in these events and there was a broad range of questions covering subjects such as the Environment, the Economy, the 3rd Runway at Heathrow to Reform of the House of Lords.

One question that resonated with the audience was Free Bus Travel for Students. Ben Wesson who was previously the member of the Youth Parliament said that it cost £5.40 to get from Southam to Leamington. I wonder why we can have free bus travel for pensioners, yet students who often have less money do not in most parts of the country and yet it would make such a difference to their lives in terms of access to work, study and leisure.

Low Carbon Event at Wolseley - Its part in rebuilding the Economy.

2009-01-31T14:02:00.005Z

I attended the Low Carbon Event this morning run by one of the areas leading employers, Wolseley and Lib-Dem run Leamington Town Council.

The event was held at Wolseley’s Sustainable Building Centre at Spa Park, which showcases the latest sustainable products and renewable technologies.

It is encouraging that we have a local employer developing and promoting these products. This is vital not only for the environment but also for economic recovery.

It is clear that we must invest our way out of the current economic crisis. There is a growing consensus amongst Political and Business leaders across the world that investment must put in place the infrastructure for the 21st Century economy. This will mean investment in digital infrastructure, transport and efficient use of sustainable energy.

The products I saw on display at Wolseley demonstrate how we can save energy in our own homes and how buildings can be constructed with significantly lower energy needs. It is certain that the economy of this century will be based around better use of energy. We can be proud that we have one of the leading suppliers of these products based here in Leamington.

Leamington Town Council is working towards transition town status, to reduce the carbon footprint of the town. Working with businesses such as Wolseley is good for our town, it is good for employment and it is good for our environment.

Why cant the Banks lend the £37 Billion to British Businesses that tax payers have already given them.

2009-01-18T17:31:00.001Z

I am astounded that the Government is planning on risking more tax payers money to get banks to lend to British businesses. A disturbing number of small businesses are shutting down because the banks have pulled the rug from under their feet by withdrawing overdraft facilities that are essential to maintain their cashflow. Many of these businesses have solid order books and are needed if we are to rebuild our economy.

Haven't we already sunk £37 billion into our banks to get them lending again, what has happened to all of that! So why on earth should we risk a further £10 billion, just to get the banks to do what they promised to do in the first place. Surely the answer is to force them to keep lending the huge stake the Government already has in these banks to our healthy businesses and keep people in work.

More on Eco Towns

2009-01-18T16:58:00.003Z

I spotted this in the Independent earlier in the week. It looks like the battle for the Eco towns is still on going. The article makes a good point about the true environmental impact on some of the planned towns due to their distance from employment and transport systems.

In principle I am in favour of eco towns, however the plans for the site near Stratford, stuck in the middle of the Warwickshire countryside and no plans to link up the transport system, would mean residents would have to jump in their cars to take their children to school and attend work.

What would make more of an impact would be Eco Developments in cities linked to public transport systems and close to all the services. Otherwise its nothing more than an excuse to build more houses in the greenbelt.

Investing rather than spending our way out of the crisis.

2008-12-23T22:17:00.002Z

I was in Leamington at the weekend catching up on some Christmas shopping, looking on as shoppers picked over the bleached carcass of Woolworths who were now offering 60% off, no bailout for Woolworths.

Yet we have seen massive support for the banks while we see little relief for people who face loosing their homes, the same tax payers who funded the bailout before their jobs fell victim to the economy. At the same time the government is considering propping up the car industry so they can make cars no one can afford to buy.

I wonder whether we have got out priorities right. Yes we need to support jobs, but wouldn’t it be better to fund something we all need. We could spend the money on and extension to the High Speed rail network for example from London to the Midlands and North of England, providing a viable alternative to road and air travel. Or we could build the Severn Barrage that would generate the equivalent of Four Nuclear Power Stations which would make a significant contribution to reducing our carbon footprint and assist in our energy security.

If we are to spend our way out of this crisis, perhaps we should spend it one something that would create a legacy that could last decades and benefit us all.

Police State tackles live music!

2008-12-16T23:49:00.003Z

I have just read about Form 696 on Facebook. This is a new regulation in London (perhaps coming to a venue near you). This is an appalling intrusion into the culture of music lovers in London which could threaten a thriving activity enjoyed by performers and audiences across the country. Just what the Police want with this information is anybodies guess. What about pubs such as my local frequented by many musicians in Warwick, where impromptu musical activity can happen at any moment. Under these new regulations would such a treat for patrons be banned.

This new piece of bureaucracy will force licensees to reveal a mass of information about performers. Publicans and managers of other small venues are forced to comply with a new piece of bureaucracy called Form 696.

The form demands that licensees give police a mass of detail, including the names, aliases, private addresses and phone numbers of all musicians and other performers appearing at their venue, and the ethnic background of the likely audience. (what happens if the form says they expect a 60% black or ethnic minority audience and only 50% turn up?)

Failure to comply could mean the loss of a licence or even a fine and imprisonment. It applies in 21 London boroughs, but professionals in the music business fear that if it becomes accepted, it will be copied in other cities. These new rules will make putting on live bands next to impossible for most small venues. An 'open mic' night could not happen under such rules.

Feargal Sharkey (singer of Teenage Kicks) is campaigning against the new rules - see below for more details.Please sign the petition on the 10 Downing Street website against 696. See here: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Scrapthe696/

I have many friends in the musical community in Warwick & Leamington and oppose these measures fully! I will be lobbying my Parliamentary colleagues to get this intrusion into the very fabric of our society stopped.

Save Leamington Allotments - Welly Walk

2008-11-23T17:57:00.004Z

This afternoon I took part in the ‘Welly Walk’ organised by BLAST (Bring Leamington Allotment Societies Together) to continue our campaign to protect Leamington’s allotments and to protect the greenbelt to the north of the town.

This is in response to Warwick District Councils ‘Options for Growth’ consultation document that placed some of the arrows on their map directly across some of Leamington’s popular allotments. This has naturally raised concern amongst allotment holders who do not want to see their allotments, many who have tended their plots for decades bulldozed to make way for housing.

I visited Binswood Allotments earlier this year and saw for myself what a fantastic source of healthy recreation these plots are. In fact these facilities are in such demand amongst such a cross section of people that there is a waiting list of almost 200 people. Leamington Town Council (Lib-Dem Run) has said that it would support the case for more allotments. You can read the full Town Council proposal here.

There is more at stake here, as green spaces such as our Cricket Pitches, back garden’s and green belt to the north of the town are also under pressure from developers.

The crisis in the housing market does not mean the threat has gone away and plans to be discussed at the District Council will determine where thousands of houses may be built over the next 20 years.

So that is why campaigns such as those organised by the Allotment Holders is so important. Decisions taken now will have an impact to the character of the towns in our District for decades to come.

My personal view and the view of the Lib-Dem’s in Warwick & Leamington is that development should not be at the expense of the facilities in our town. In fact is there is development on the scale proposed we will need more facilities, more allotments so we can maintain our towns as great places to live.

So in spite of the icy weather and the mud, well over 100 of us spent this afternoon walking along the green belt that is at risk. We had a short pause for some speeches before we returned via some of the allotments.

We should not build on the Green Belt to the north of Warwick & Leamington for two important reasons. It forms a natural barrier between our towns and Kenilworth and Coventry to the north, halting the urban sprawl. The area to the north is stunning Warwickshire countryside along the course of the Avon (a flood plain) dotted with little villages. The choice is clear, Urban Sprawl or Stunning Countryside!

Obama

2008-11-05T21:32:00.001Z

Last night the United States elected their first sensible president for over eight years. I really feel there was a sense of optimism across the world this morning. What America needs is someone who will restore this nations standing in the world. I have watched Obama during the course of the campaign, he is a fantastic speaker and I really feel his policies are needed to meet the challenges America faces today.

Warwick School

2008-10-06T14:10:00.002Z

This afternoon I visited Warwick School to speak at the sixth form afternoon assembly. I briefly spoke about what Liberal Democrats stand for and where we sit in the political landscape. I kept this short as I wanted to spend more time answering questions and talking about what the boys wanted to talk about.

The questions asked were excellent and at times tough, covering a range of subjects from the economy, immigration, Europe, taxation, the balance between a free market & social policies and electoral reform.

I left some information containing a set of websites that the boys might like to look at and have posted them below.

www.liberalyouth.org
warwick-leamington-libdems.org.uk
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=655215257
www.politicalcompass.org
alan-beddow.blogspot.com
Email - alan_beddow@yahoo.co.uk

Tuesday Conference - Exhibitions and the Glee Club

2008-09-16T16:32:00.002Z

I have had a more relaxed morning today. Conference can get a bit intense at times. So I strolled through the park that runs through Bournemouth to a little cafe for breakfast. Bournemouth is a great place; it has elements of a European city with its open spaces and some of its art deco buildings, a little like Barcelona on some ways, then it has the elegance of a Victorian city and sea side town. I took a walk along the shoreline, the firm wet line of sand right by the water. Bournemouth has some of the best beaches in Britain.

I then made a proper visit to the Exhibition so I could talk to some of the exhibitors. I had an interesting debate at the ‘Friends of Israel’ stand (which for various reasons is not next to the ‘Friends of Palestine’), spoke to the Federation of Small Businesses about our town centres, used the cashpoint at the Post Office stand (which for the Lib-Dem conference at least was still open and I wondered whether it would remain open for the whole of the Labour conference), chatted to printers, the Countryside Alliance (which are not all about fox hunting) and a whole host of others.

My first true event of the day was with the, Institute of Directors where Vince Cable spoke about the future of the economy. Vince spoke about bonus payments in the financial industry, liberal regulation in the market to provide institutions people can trust and who would provide a stable financial environment. The speaker from the IoD gave a constructive and favourable response to our policies. He stressed that it was important that Britain remained competitive.

A very long walk up the hill for an interesting training session.

I needed a sandwich at this point and so went into a coffee shop and while I ate read a copy of the Daily Mail. At the conference its so easy to be in a bit of a bubble, so I was reassured to read that; Britain is officially the most crowded place in Europe, there are paedophiles round every corner and three teenagers have been stabbed 666 times and eaten by Russian Satanists.

Tonight I am having dinner with some people from the region, not sure who yet, I am filling a place that has become free, and then it is the glee club!

OK, I will tell you about the glee club. You would not believe it unless you had seen it.

It is basically the end of conference party, with a tradition that goes right back to who knows when, Gladstone probably! (now there is a thought). The party faithful gather for a few drinks and to sing songs ancient and modern ranging from hymns on land reform, Jerusalem and more recent irreverent versions of catchy tunes celebrating the exploits of former leaders. These are accompanied by John Hemming MP on Piano and an assortment of turns by heroic campaign teams from by elections past. It is something to be witnessed I can tell you! Last year Paddy Ashdown told the longest and eventually pointless shaggy dog story. I wonder if Nick will do a turn this year, I hope so.

Serious Debating on Monday

2008-09-15T16:54:00.003Z

Each year the BBC put on an informative Breakfast which is a good start to the day. This year they used it as an opportunity to preview their new BBC Persian service. Countries such as Iran have a large, educated & progressive young population. I am convinced that the only constructive hope for progress in Iran is through its youth. This new BBC service is vibrant and will celebrate Persian culture and I am convinced will contribute to progress of freedom for the people in this part of the world.

I then headed down the hill to attend the Party Reform Commission consultation where one of our local councillors, Sarah Boad spoke, stressing the importance of our councillors.

More training with Jenny Willott MP, then off to a lively fringe by the NUT discussing 'Who Should Run Schools?', (for example Academies vs Local Authority) with MP’s David Laws and Paul Holmes, I always like listening to Paul as he is plain speaking and with conviction.

So then onto the debate on our Pre-manifesto, ‘Make it Happen’. (After a cup of tea) It will be interesting to see how the media write this one up tomorrow.

Each conference there is always a debate that is both controversial and enjoyable. A contentious debate at a Lib-Dem conference will find most delegates applauding a speaker even if they disagree with what they had to say (very Liberal). Fellow delegates have told me how much they enjoyed such a debate even if their point of view lost.

So I have just popped back to my holiday flat to drop off some campaign materials I have been meaning to take away for a couple of days. I have a busy evening, Regional and then a National European Campaign team meeting, then the Parliamentary Candidates reception which will be a chance to grab something to eat and chat to colleagues, before rounding it off the evening at the ‘Liberal Review – Humour Balance Task Force’ which could be a lot of fun.

I can only give you a small view of a Party Conference as there is so much to do, be informed about and get involved in, that any person can only see a fraction of it.

So what happens at Party Conferences?

2008-09-14T21:10:00.003Z

Anyone who has never been to a party conference might wonder what we do all day. Well its not all sitting in a huge conference hall listening to debates on taper relief of capital gain tax, followed by partying till the early hours in the conference bar. There is training, fringe events, photo sessions, campaign groups to talk to, media and meetings with colleagues and various party bodies. There might be some drinking in the hotel bar, but tonight I am having an early night as I have an early start tomorrow.

So I started the second day again with some more training, there is no shortage of training in the Lib-Dem's, yet its all useful.

On the way out of the conference centre I got talking to campaigners from Rethink, a mental health campaign organisation. There is real inequality in just about every area of life for people with mental health issues, including mild depression that can effect any of us. Then there is the bigger issue of the huge percentage of people in our bulging prisons who have mental health issues. Surely treatment is more appropriate than banging them up!

Time cup of tea before attending a fringe from the 'ippr' with Norman Lamb looking at the balance between Public & Private provision of Public Services. This is a debate all major parties are having at the moment and we can learn much from countries such as Sweden.

I managed to grab something to eat then went into the Q&A with Nick Clegg. Nick answered a range of questions including; is he Cameron Lite, or Clegg Full Strength. Nick answered this by comparing policies, finally stating David Cameron would never do that! Nick believes we have the best policies on for example; housing, public services and the economy. Nick's ambition is that we remain the trend setter in British politics in the way have been on the environment.

Quick trek up the hill for a briefing with Vince Cable. Vince discussed some of the issues with the housing market. Councils should be able to buy empty properties or where people are unable to keep up with their payments and rentback.

Vince clarified our new tax proposals through closing tax avoidance, green taxes & savings. Regarding regulation of banking, ask me about, Countercyclical Regulation when I get back and see if I remember.

Finally an evening fringe run by Oxfam discussing how Climate Change is a Foreign Policy issue, with shifting weather patterns, basic resources such as water will become a valuable commodity which are already creating tensions around the globe. Countries such as the USA are not immune to this as deforestation in Brazil will affect rainfall in parts of the mid-west. So we need an international framework to agree how much water can be taken out of rivers and regulate the activities of countries that would affect neighbours. Quite a challenge!

Another full and interesting day, we have been so lucky with the weather. I think I have earned a pint on the conference hotel lawn overlooking the sea.

Saturday at The Lib-Dem Conference. Training, Debate and Dancing.

2008-09-13T22:27:00.003Z

I started the conference on a sunny morning with a walk up one of the many hills here in Bournemouth for a training session.

Its interesting to note that polling shows that Crime, Health & Education are still top issues, however Cost of Living is rising as an issue people are concerned about.

I had time for a quick sandwich then onto a briefing. I had time for a quick photo shoot with Liberal Youth; graphically putting the case for votes at 16, then back up the hill for more training.

Its proving to be a full day, quick spin round the exhibition, a chat to a couple of colleagues I bumped into, then a needed cup of coffee before going into a Policy Debate on International Security in the main hall. Our policy on International Security includes; Prevention rather than cure, Work within and strengthen the International Communities and Support our troops so they are well cared for and equipped for when we have to use them. (In fact the way our service personnel is cared for is appalling, not only lack of equipment, some of their housing is so bad I would not board my cat there.)

The rally was opened by an excellent dance troop from a youth project in Grimsby. Nick Clegg developed the theme, 'politics is broken'. Only one man can be trusted with economy, Vince Cable and only the Liberal Democrats can unite people & politics.

Thirsty work so I ended the day in the conference bar, followed by dinner with the chair of neighbouring constituency Kenilworth & Southam.

Bournemouth is a cracking venue for the conference and so far the weather has been bright and sunny. Stunning view of the moon over the bay this evening, let’s hope it keeps fine.

I will be interested in how the conference comes over in the media, so please let me know how you see it from the papers and TV.

Equitable Life. - Government should pay out.

2008-08-26T12:15:00.010Z

Over the past couple of weeks I have been contacted by local residents, following the publication of the Ombudsman’s report into the Equitable Life scandal.

Now this issue goes back to early 1999 after Equitable Life launched proceedings to cut bonus payments, effectively going back on promises made to policy holders. This affects many people in Warwick & Leamington, some of whom joined Pension Schemes from local employers.

The Ombudsman’s report into the Equitable Life scandal makes very disturbing reading. Its findings show that many Equitable Life policy holders lost money as a direct consequence of regulators failing to keep close enough scrutiny of the company.

The list of the regulatory failures includes:

The failure to adequately scrutinise Equitable Life’s returns and accounting policies and the value of its liabilities from 1990 onwards

The failure to act on the problems of the differential terminal bonus policy - and the over-bonusing of some investors at the expense of others

The failure to force Equitable Life to create a contingency fund to cover the risk of losing the Hyman case - which challenged Equitable Life policies and, if lost, would leave them open to massive liabilities

The decision to allow Equitable Life to keep trading after losing the Hyman case

It’s clear that many policy holders have been badly let down by regulators, have suffered financial loss as a result and deserve compensation for the losses caused by the failings of the regulator.

Lib-Dem shadow treasury spokesperson, Vince Cable has taken a very strong line on this:

After eight years and 13 reports it’s time for the Government to finally admit that it comprehensively failed to regulate Equitable Life properly.
For years ministers have acted like they were in a castle under siege, hoping that Equitable Life policy holders would give up and go away. Today’s report shows that, rightly, this is not going to happen.
Gordon Brown has overseen a complete and repeated failure of regulation spanning a decade. The outrage expressed by policyholders over this ’serial regulatory failure’ is entirely justified.
After months of dragging its feet, the Government needs to accept the Ombudsman’s recommendation that ‘wrongs should be remedied’.
If ministers choose to disregard this report, as they have done over tax credits and occupational pensions, it will be the final nail in the coffin for the Ombudsman’s credibility.
These are large sums of money, especially at a time when belts are being tightened. Gordon Brown must now admit fault and apologise to policyholders.
It is critical that the Government now sets out a credible, transparent and independent process to enter into a dialogue with policy holders over compensation.

Vince has also written an excellent article in the Telegraph.

Policy holders who have saved for their retirements, fully deserve fair compensation after this appalling maladministration over more than 10 years.

Links to useful sites.

BBC Website

Equitable Members Action Group

David Cameron's UK Holiday Sham!

2008-08-24T15:24:00.001Z

Three weeks ago David Cameron took a holiday in Cornwall in front of the media spotlight to show solidarity with British families affected by the credit crunch.

Yet in secret he has taken his family on a luxury holiday on board a yacht in the Turkish Rivera.

“The break was dubbed an opportunistic attempt by Cameron to show himself as a humble stay-at-home politician who had tightened his belt and gone on holiday in Britain in the wake of the credit crunch” Says the Daily Mail.

'Bucket and spade' Dave has shown his true 'blue' colours by holidaying on a £21,000 a week yacht, surrounded by an armada of seven boats of 74 mates and family and banqueting in the finest restaurants,” added the Mirror.

Well what can I say, this is one in a long line of examples where Cameron will do one thing in front of the camera’s and another when he thinks no one else is looking.

David Cameron has looked the part of a Prime Minister in waiting while Gordon Brown has been floundering. Yet the British people should not be fooled by Cameron. If Cameron becomes our next Prime Minister we can expect more spin than we had under Blair and very little substance.

Leamington Schools Political Conference.

2008-07-07T14:24:00.001Z

I took part in a Political Conference for schools across Warwickshire in at the Spa centre in Leamington today.

The subject for the morning dealt with the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and whether British troops should stay in these countries.

I argued that the neglect of the international community to provide post conflict support in Afghanistan after the Russian War ended in 1989 allowed the country to be controlled by Warlords and the Taliban. Bin Laden moved to Afghanistan in 1996 and used it as a base to launch attacks against Taliban enemies and the West. Although success in this country is slow, we are making progress and are focusing on state building. A failed Terrorist state threatens the safety of the region, the West and the World.

With Iraq the story is different. There was no UN authorisation for the invasion and it is deemed by many to be illegal under international law. Our presence in Iraq is now part of the problem. We should shift our efforts to a diplomatic solution, focusing on state building rather then perpetuating a war we cannot win.

I was very impressed with the quality of the questions raised from the floor and we have an interesting and lively debate about the issues raised.

In the afternoon we discussed Immigration, and whether we should have tighter controls. I discussed the various types of immigration:

Those entering Britain legally from our former colonies or within Europe for example contribute in our skills market. Rather than imposing a state led, points or quota system as Labour and the Conservatives propose, I believe legal entrants to Britain who come here to work should be led by the market. Only this way can the market respond to the needs of our global economy.

I discussed how we should have a better system to handle asylum seekers and process their claim and how we need a strong border force to stamp out crimes such as People Trafficking, modern day slavery and international crime and terrorism.

There was some debate about the ghettoisation in some communities and a balance needs to be struck between people actually wanting to live in their own communities and be able to integrate into the nation as a whole.

Labour’s proposals to use ID Cards as a way of controlling immigration, introduced for immigrants only, created a lot of comment from the floor. I really cannot see how this would work. If only immigrants need ID cards, then for example someone here illegally say from Chechnya could just pretend to be from Poland an EU country, who would know the difference? What about someone born in this country, a third generation Muslim for example, how can he prove that he is British?

All in all a really good day with some lively issues.

Warwickshire Political Conference Notes - Monday 7th July.

2008-07-07T12:00:00.001Z

As promised I have included some useful links to various websites with some background material on the subjects we discussed at the Political Conference today.

Please email me if you have any comments or questions on the issues discussed.

Immigration.

Council of Europe page on the issue of Human Trafficking.

Liz Lynne – West Midlands MEP Website

Poppy Project – Support for Women who are victims of Human Trafficking

Destination UK – BBC website dealing with Immigration

Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees.

UK Border Agency

Liberty – Page dealing with Asylum.

Office of National Statistics – immigration and emigration

Afghanistan

Afghanistan – Wikipedia

Afghanistan – CIA world fact book

Taliban - Wikipadia

ISAF – NATO

Iraq

BBC Page on Iraq War

Stop the War Coalition.

The Iraq Commission

Article on the Iraq Commission – Independent

US Iraq Study Group

Leamington Town Councils response to the 'Options For Growth'

2008-07-04T15:17:00.002Z

Cllr Bill Gifford has sent me a copy of Leamington Town Councils response to the 'Options For Growth' consultation. You can find a copy on our local Lib Dem website.

I find this captures my own thoughts very well and I feel it is important that the Town Council has a strong position on something that may affect the very heart of the town way into the future.

I welcome any thoughts you may have on where new homes should be built in the future.

Save the Allotments - Wheelbarrow Walk.

2008-06-29T15:32:00.007Z

I attended one of the most fun demonstrations this afternoon, the Wheelbarrow Walk to save Leamingtons Allotments from the threat of development. A colourful procession of allotment owners carrying watering cans and pushing wheelbarrows headed down the Parade during a busy Sunday afternoon to the Pump Room gardens.

The demonstration was organised after the District Council issued a consultation on possible sites for future development. Residents in Leamington became concerned when Option 1 featured a large arrow pointing right across land where their allotments stand.

I was asked to speak after the demonstration had assembled at the bandstand, along with my colleague Bill Gifford who is one of Leamington's Lib-Dem councilors.

I have written about these allotments before and I really do believe that all our facilities, Allotments, Sports fields, Our Cricket Club which is also threatened with development, parks and open spaces add significantly to the quality of life in our towns. These facilities are used by people of all ages and bring people together.

This is one of the things that I love about living in this area is that we are an integrated community, we do have a wide range of activities and culture. If we destroy these things then we destroy all that makes Leamington and Warwick the towns they are.

If anyone featured in the pictures above has an objection then please email me and I will take it off this page.

Binswood Allotments

2008-06-13T16:02:00.005Z

I spent a really pleasant time this morning visiting Binswood Allotments where two members of the allotment society John Shuttleworth and Geoff Southgate showed me around and explained their fears that it may all be lost to future development.

The regional spatial strategy has allocated 10,800 new homes to be built across Warwick District in the next 20 years. This could mean land the size of Warwick Gates and South West Warwick developments put together may be used for housing. There is currently a consultation underway to gather public opinion before a decision is made where these will be built. Some of the options are considering land north of Milverton where the allotments are located.

I was able to see for myself the value these allotments are to the area and the people who enjoy them. These allotments were created in 1920 for returning servicemen from the first world war. They have been enjoyed by people in our towns ever since.

I was struck by the diverse range of uses these plots are given over to and met some of the people from all backgrounds and ages who work them. Some of the plots employ traditional methods of growing and some are experimenting with newer ways of growing their own produce.
It would be very sad to see these destroyed in a rush to build more houses. 117 people and their families already enjoy these plots and there is a waiting list for this set of allotments alone. As modern houses are built with very small gardens additional development will only increase demand for this superb source of recreation.

Where to build all the new homes we need is going to be a difficult decision. I am certain though that this cannot be at the expense of our green open spaces that let towns such as Warwick and Leamington breathe and make our towns fantastic places to live.

The allotment society is running an excellent campaign to protect these and other allotments across our towns and need your support. You can find out more on their website and please sign their petition.

There is still time till the 10th July to get a copy of the councils ‘Options for Growth’ booklet at libraries or the council buildings or from their website. I would encourage everyone to take part in the consultation so your views are heard.

Link to story on the Lib Dem local website.

Has 800 years of British Freedoms been auctioned off with our tax payers money?

2008-06-12T14:39:00.005Z

I was appalled by yesterdays vote on the extension to 42 days of detention without charge. Partly because I believe this the extension to 42 days is totally unnecessary, unworkable and the Government has presented no remotely convincing evidence that it is needed.

The protection of British subjects not to be detained without charge dates back almost 800 years. It was set out in the Magna Carta, forming the backbone of legal systems right across the globe. Yet Britain’s current limit for detention without charge, at 28 days, is already the longest pre-charge detention period in the world.

Detaining someone for up to 6 weeks without even presenting them or their lawyer with any evidence against them; tramples on 800 years of our hard won freedoms. These freedoms have survived the middle ages, civil war, two global conflicts, the cold war and terrorism.

What concerns me almost as much is the suggestion made in parts of the media; that the support of Labour rebels and the Ulster Unionist party has been won in exchange for concessions.

Nick Robinson, speaking on the Today programme on Radio 4, said, “One Labour rebel was told he would get money for the Miners’ Compensation Fund in recent days. Another, that Gordon Brown would oppose sanctions on Cuba. Another who has not had a telephone call for 20 years from Gordon Brown had 20 minutes on the phone with Gordon Brown, pleading him to vote.”

Glancing at a front page in the newsagents this morning I saw figures of £200,000 mentioned in some concessions, paid for out of our tax payers money.

If this is true, this is nothing more than the auctioning off the very foundations of the British state! Gordon Brown and the rebels he bought should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

Labour doing a Ratners on Tax

2008-05-13T20:46:00.004Z

I have just seen the details of the concessions made by the Government to 'compensate' people who have lost out on their tax policy. It has descended into a complete farce.

The abolition of the 10p rate was designed to help Labour win the election that never was. Now this by-election budget is designed to help them cling on to Crewe in next week’s vote. The Chancellor is desperately trying to backtrack from the disastrous decisions of the Prime Minister but has still hasn’t managed to get it right.

Surely it would be better to admit they were wrong and put things back to how they were, yes it would be a U-Turn, yet if they came clean and admitted they had made a mistake, something the entire country knows anyway, they may be able to claw back some respect. Figures I have seen show that this u-turn leaves 1.1 million of the lowest paid workers losing up to £100 each.

The chart I have included shows that only a small proportion of those affected by the removal of the 1op tax band will be compensated. 1.1 million people earning between just over £6,500 and £12,800 will still lose out.

The whole thing has been a total disaster for Labour hitting hardest those that are their core vote. An act of political suicide comparable to 'Ratners Jewelry'.

Great Result for Lib-Dem's across the country.

2008-05-03T10:15:00.002Z

We did not have elections this year in Warwick & Leamington, though I have been greatly encouraged by the results across the country and especially closer to home in places like Stratford where we gained 5 seats from the Conservatives.

Russell Field in Coventry was elected back onto Coventry City Council after a hard fought battle in one of Labour’s top targets. I am not sure whether the local Labour party wheeling in Gordon Brown at one stage was more help to Russell.

I’m especially pleased with these results in particular as I took the decision to pause our own campaigning and lead some teams into these areas to lend a hand.

Across the country we had a challenge; the seats we were defending had been won in 2004 when we received a large anti-war protest vote. I know that at Lib-Dem HQ it was felt that to hold our position would have been a good result. So a net gain of 34 councillors, taking control of one addition council, holding Liverpool against a massive and at times dirty Labour campaign and winning 3 seats on the London Assembly is cause for celebration. Pushing Labour's share of the vote into third place demonstrates just how much Labour have lost touch with their core supporters.

Though its not just about winning seats, the whole point of Politics is to care for our communities, stand up for our values and maintain a sense of social responsibility. For all our newly elected councillors who have worked hard to win their seats, that is something I know they will put just as much into.

Full details of the result can be found on the BBC website.

Shambles.

2008-04-24T08:36:00.003Z

I have been watching the shambles over the abolition of the 10p tax rate over the past couple of weeks and am unconvinced by the compromise that has been hacked together in order to save further government embarrassment days before the local elections.

The winter fuel payment is not the appropriate method of reimbursing pensioners, some pensioners are very wealthy and are not hit by the 10p tax issue. How are poorer elderly people going to cope until the Government sort this all out?

Increasing the minimum wage to help younger people will mean that industry and commerce will foot the bill, harming Britain's competitiveness in the global market and affect inflation. This is simply the wrong tool for the job.

I am still unconvinced that families will be compensated through tax credits. I have had families locally telling me they are still worse off .

The simplest thing would be to reinstate the 10p rate, though that would be a U Turn, even if it would have avoided what has become a rather messy road accident.

Better Off under Gordon Brown.

2008-04-07T09:26:00.001Z

Well some of us are at least. This morning I got my first payslip since the new tax rates started. I am paying less tax now than I was about 7 years ago, so thank you Gordon!

Of course those on lower incomes and young people already being hammered by student loans and no prospect of being able to buy their own homes are worse off.

The new tax regime that came into effect this weekend removes the lower 10% tax band and reduces the basic rate. This means that people on incomes lower than £18,500 a year are worse off.

New Labour can no longer cling onto the claim that they are the party standing up for ordinary hard working people. It is not the Labour party that my Grandfather worked for.

I will be using my tax cut to help campaign for a fairer government.

Snow in Warwick.

2008-04-06T10:48:00.008Z

I got up this morning to about 3 inches of snow over the whole town, It looks stunning. I had a pleasant time wandering round the town with my camera before it all melted.
A lot of other people had the same idea and I bumped into many people I know out and about.
I've posted a few of my favourites here, though the small pictures do not really do it justice.

New Refuse Collections - But for some Rubbish Piling up in the Street.

2008-04-03T12:08:00.005Z

The controversial new refuse collection started this week in Warwick District. Most residents will get new Grey and Green wheelie bins to put their household refuse and garden waste. Collections will be alternate weekly, with one week collecting garden waste and recycling (from the red box) and the other week collecting household waste.

Residents in terraced streets have been able to request a supply of bags if they are unable to store a wheelie bin.

Roads in Chase Meadow left off the list and refuse is piling up in the streets.

A council blunder has left roads in the Chase Meadow development in West Warwick off the list for the new refuse collection. Now that the new service has started rubbish is piling up in the street and residents do not know when it will be collected.

I visited the road on Monday to see for myself and talked to some of the residents.

Residents have received no information about the new service and have put their rubbish out on Tuesday morning as usual. It has not been collected and people are very worried and confused. One resident I spoke to with young children is worried about health risks with the bags outside in the sunshine.

I cannot understand how the council has overlooked these streets. Cllr Kinson who is responsible for the whole scheme is one of the Conservative councillors for this area. Refuse has been collected under the old scheme since homes were occupied in November, people are paying their Council Tax and are even on the electoral roll so its not as if no one knows they exist.
When I contacted the council I was told that bins will be issued shortly though they did not tell me when. Collection in this area will be on a Friday, starting with recycling. This means that refuse will be outside in bags for almost two weeks in the heat. It is simply not good enough!

Lib Dem Conference in Liverpool

2008-03-11T22:24:00.003Z

I’ve only just had chance to write about the Lib-Dem conference at Liverpool last weekend.

I have to say I was slightly apprehensive after the events of the week before. I had feared another conference with mutterings over leadership. My fears proved unfounded and I was relieved to note that Nick Clegg mentioned the events in his opening talk at the rally on Friday and even made a joke about it during his closing speech.

I was able to gather some inside information about the rebellion and it seems the whole thing was quite good natured. Some MP’s felt they had to honour the wishes of their constituents in some parts of the country.

Those events aside, the highlights from the conference for me include:

Health Debate

The Health Debate, where we passed amendments to our policy that will ensure we have a greater say in the running of our health service as opposed to the centrally run megalith that it has become. It seems the NHS is now one of the largest, most centrally run organisations, second only to the Chinese Peoples Revolutionary Army, hardly a role model for a progressive democratic British public service.

Vince Cable & The Economy

I enjoyed Vince Cables speech and was able to attend a Parliamentary briefing with him afterwards where he outlined the key challenges to our economy which strongly feature early signs of tightening, increase in home repossessions and bankruptcy. This highlights what Vince has been warning the government of for some years now, the unsustainable rise in personal debt. Gordon Browns economic Miracle has been paid for on our collective credit cards and now we have hit our limit. I do hope that with the shift in exchange rates Britain can muster its manufacturing industry (which still exists in some places) and pull us out of its current difficulties. I would like to see the government do more to encourage this.
(I hope to write more about bankruptcy soon as figures I have seen show an exponential rise since 2001 in the Warwick & Leamington area, a pattern following a national trend, I am waiting for 2007 figures to come out and I will show the full picture.)

Housing

I attended a debate on Housing; again passing changes to our policy that will effectively give local authorities more power to build the affordable housing it desperately needs. Warwick & Leamington have had more than its fair share of new houses, yet with many of the executive style flats lying empty and the four bed double garage properties occupied by commuters, while many people who grew up in the area and actually work here cannot afford to buy a house (including my friend who is a doctor) I do feel the developers have been building the wrong sort of houses.

Paul Holmes who was recently our shadow housing spokesperson spoke with real conviction and having discussed housing with him recently was pleased to hear his contribution to the debate.

On this theme I had chance to discuss this with the lovely Julia Goldsworthy (communities and local government spokeswoman). Julia later gave the first speech I have heard her give at conference, I was quite impressed and am sure we will see a lot more of her in the future.

I had a few drinks in the bar with some of the usual suspects from our regional party and was saved from the Glee Club (end of conference party, which an oath of secrecy forbids me from disclosing details, other than to say that you would not believe it unless you saw it) by having dinner with Phil and Penny Bennion at a local curry house.

Nicks Speech

Nick’s first conference speech lived up to expectations.

During his speech I started to see the narrative coming together that we have been developing since a one day conference I attended a couple of years ago in London. There seem to be two strands to this.

1/ Politics is Broken, public confidence in our politicians is at an all time low, following cash for honours, MP’s expenses rows, people feel politicians are only in it for what they can get and voter turn out is at an all time low. Our electoral system focuses only on swing voters in marginal constituencies and there is little to choose from two establishment parties.
(If Gordon Brown had not bottled out of an election in November analysts say just 8,000 swing voters would have won the election. That is less that half the voters in Warwick!)

2/ We intend to change that and fix our political system by bringing democracy closer to us (the people) so we can regain a voice in what is becoming a faceless centralised state.

All our policies based on Liberal principles hang around this theme like a well-tailored suit.

Nick also ruled out doing a deal with the other main parties. A well needed position in my view, which put to rest any speculation of voting one thing and getting another.

I sense Nick has real conviction and the ambition for our party and our country to strike a chord with all of us across Britain.

So all in all a great conference and a solid start to the next couple of years campaigning.

If you want to ask me about these or any of our other policies, or tell me about your experiences or thoughts please email me.

Affordable Housing money plundered by Tory Council

2008-02-25T15:12:00.007Z

Affordable Housing is a real issue in Warwick & Leamington. Even people with well paid jobs struggle to find somewhere to live. So you can imagine my disbelief when I find that the Tory Council have taken money set aside to assist affordable housing for two other projects.

Now when The ‘Right to Buy’ of Council homes by sitting tenants was introduced by Thatcher in 1980, the money raised from the sale of over 4000 homes in Warwick District was put in a reserve to help development costs for housing associations to enable them to provide affordable homes for local people.

At a Council budget meeting on Thursday, £320,000 for the purchase of Oakley Wood and a further £100,000 to fund the Rural Initiatives Scheme was taken from this money. I am sure the two projects are quite laudable, yet why were they not funded from the £2M sitting in the General Reserve.

It really goes to show just how serious the Tories were during their election campaign when they pledged to improve housing in the area and only 9 months later they plunder the fund set aside for that purpose.

Climate Change - Question Time - Warwick University

2008-02-22T17:16:00.002Z

Last night I took part in a Question Time style debate on Climate Change as part of Warwick University’s ‘Go Green Week. The panel included representatives from each of the main parties, and a couple of experts on climate change.

The event was very well attended and there were some challenging questions from the audience.

Neuclear Power
The first question on Nuclear Power provoked some debate, with Jayne Innes from Labour taking the view that the decision to invest in new Nuclear power stations was the right one. I felt the general mood of the panel and the floor favoured our position that the money could be spent more effectively on a broader range of renewable options without increasing our already huge (£70Bn) cleanup costs from the power stations we already have.

Too Much Stick & Not Enough Carrot.

The second question asked how we could encourage people to change environmental behaviour. The panel outlined a broad range of measures from education, government and industry and I made the point that I would like to see a lot more carrot and a little less stick. I feel this is especially true of transport. Whilst tolls, congestion charges and other measures to discourage driving can be effective, the one thing that really makes me switch to alternatives is the availability of effective public transport.

High Speed Rail.

A later question dealt with High Speed Rail; again the Labour line was just how far we had come in 10 years. I could not resist this opening to point out that we had come exactly 70 miles, from the Kent Coast to St Pancras. With no further High Speed Lines planned it was anybodies guess how long we would wait for HS2 and that we had the smallest High Speed network of all the major countries in Europe.

Other questions included the part the international community has to play and how other countries had tackled climate change.

Green Economy.
A question on how a climate change could affect the economy provoked some interesting answers. Ian Davison from The Green Party seemed to think the economy should and would contract. I disagree; a reduction in Carbon should not automatically mean a reduction in the economy if we get it right. It will mean a different economy and by investing in new technology Britain could be a world leader.

How far has Labour Come.
One question from the floor was a direct challenge to Labour to explain what the Government had done to combat climate change during its 10 years in power. I had to correct the Labour representative after she appeared to indicate that Labour’s record was good and we had met all our targets. In fact CO2 emissions are up 4% since 1999 and the Government have admitted that they will fail to meet their target of 20% reduction by 2010.

I did not get chance to mention my favourite quote from Two Jag’s Prescott who in 1997 stated that: “I will have failed if there are not fewer journeys by car. It is a tall order, but I urge you to hold me to that.” Oh well perhaps next time.

Warwick District Cheated by Labour.

2008-02-10T21:17:00.000Z

This week the government voted on its Local Government Settlement. Now many of us may think that all our council tax goes to Warwick District Council and they use it to pay for our services.

Well its not as simple as that. A huge slice of it goes off to Whitehall and they give some of it back in terms of grants. Of course a lot of our money leaks out in terms of costs and layers of bureaucracy. This way the Government manages to keep control of what our councils are spending our money on.

So, this week the Government voted on the Local Government Settlement. Warwick District has been given just a 1% increase, amongst the lowest in the country. You can see a copy of a spreadsheet on a government website here that shows just who has got what.

Now I know that the government is giving some councils small settlements to force them to become more efficient. Yet Warwick District during the Lib-Dem jointly run administration received praise from the Audit Commission that said the Council was well run and provided value for money.

James Plaskitt MP for Warwick & Leamington even voted for this settlement! I will be asking him why.

Now if we are going to be cynical we could wonder if this is because Warwick District is now controlled by the Tories after Labours defeat in the local election last May. But then I have to wonder why Kenilworth Tory MP, Jeremy Wright abstained from the vote. Only 3 Conservatives joined the Lib-Dem's in voting against this penny pinching settlement.

So ultimately it will be us, the council tax payer that will be left to foot the bill. The rise barely takes into account inflation and the additional costs of services the government requires councils to provide. The end result is that councils are being forced to increase council tax above inflation and cut services. It is a case of pay more and get less under Labour.

More on Guy Street Parking

2008-02-03T16:07:00.000Z

The latest round of proposals to fix the parking issues in Warwick was put before the Warwick Area Committee on the 22nd Jan. I was able to speak at the meeting in support of residents in the Guy Street area. The latest plan will create a one way system with cars entering along Broad Street and Guys Street, meeting in the middle of Guys Cliffe Terrace and then trying to get out along Cherry Street. At the same time the cycle path will head into the stream of traffic. I just hope this is not a recipe for an accident blackspot. This plan fails to meet the full 60 spaces needed by residents in the area.

Proposals favoured by residents to narrow the pavement in Guys Cliffe Terrace (where there are no houses on the north side) were rejected by the council. Residents now face the upheaval of the new one way system and a continued protest when it fails to provide all the spaces needed.

A new Council Chamber - but how much will it cost us?

2008-02-03T16:02:00.000Z

I was appalled to find out that a Freedom of Information request put in by one of our Lib-Dem councillors in Stratford was refused with a ‘Public Interest Refusal Notice’. As a member of the public paying for the work it is very much in my interest.

Conservative led Warwickshire County Council have refused to reveal the likely cost of refurbishing the County Council council chamber at County Hall, Warwick. A freedom of information request on the costs by the Liberal Democrats was rejected with a ‘Public Interest Refusal Notice’.

The issue is not that the council is refurbishing the council chamber, I know some of the work is to make it more accessible. I am more concerned that the Conservative led council are refusing to reveal how much it is costing us. If they can withhold the cost of the very chamber that is supposed to represent open democracy in this county it makes you wonder what else they are hiding.

The comment in the Warwick Times from a council representative that they do not know how much it will cost just seems lame to me.

Brown refuses to answer repossesion question.

2008-01-17T14:06:00.000Z

I have a moment to comment on yesterdays Prime Ministers Question Time. Gordon Brown showed a remarkable skill in not answering both of Nick Clegg’s questions on House repossessions.

Nick opened by asking what comfort the Prime Minister could offer the 45,000 British families who now face the prospect of losing their homes this year?

Gordon Brown replied that he is determined to have low interest rates and that to have low interest rates we have to have low inflation; and to have low inflation we have to have a decent economic policy.

This does not answer the question. Low interest rates have got nothing to do with home repossessions increasing by 50 per cent, with one repossession every 12 minutes.

Nick then pushed the Prime Minister on the issue, pointing out that he allowed, on his watch, grossly irresponsible lending practices by banks to destabilise the housing market.
Brown responds with another non-answer reminding Nick Clegg that there are 1.5 million more homeowners under Labour.

The real issue is that the banks have been allowed to lend increasing amounts against income, over longer terms and often more than a family can afford.

This increase in the supply of money, coupled with the shortage of housing has driven up house prices such that it now excludes a significant proportion of people from the housing market. In South Warwickshire (a prosperous area) 73% of all couples are excluded. For example some friends of mine, late 20’s professional couple (one a Doctor) cannot afford to buy a house in Warwick.

My house on the other hand has doubled in value since I bought it. Am I significantly better off? I don’t feel it, I still have the same payments to make, same disposable income. If I move the increase in house prices are all relative. When I die my estate (scrap of damp lawn) falls over the Inheritance Tax threshold. The only way I make anything on the increase in house prices is if I sold up and lived in a tent on Newbold Comyn.

The only people making any money on this are the banks, with no restraints from the government have been encouraging us to borrow more and more money for the past decade and now the money has run out.

Consumer spending on our collective credit card has fuelled Gordon Browns Economic Miracle. Sooner or later we were going to hit our credit limit. We now face, what we all face when our spending gets out of control and lets face it we have all been there. A collective tightening of the belts and this is going to hit the retail and services sector first.

The slide in the pound will make imports more expensive, yet exports, which have suffered in recent years, become viable again. Perhaps our Manufacturing will pick up to take up the slack in the labour market, lets hope so.

One thing is for sure; the years of economic stability are over. Some British families are going to find themselves in economic difficulty.

The 45,000 British families who now face the prospect of losing their homes this year should be insulted that Gordon Brown refused to ask the question that Nick Clegg asked on their behalf.

Interesting points to note:-

The new Housing Act is going through the committee stage in the House of Commons. I look forward to reading it and will comment when it has been published.

An interesting post by Paul Holmes MP on council housing that is worth a read. Paul was until recently our shadow-housing minister. I had the opportunity to discuss some of this issues with Paul at a conference a couple of months ago, worth a read as Paul puts the situation quite clearly.

Alan Beddow is also the Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson for the West Midlands

One quarter of the income tax I paid this year went to bail out Northern Rock... I want to know when we are going to get our money back

2008-01-12T21:56:00.000Z

It's been my first full week back at work this week and the first that I have felt fully back to normal after a bout of flue over Christmas. So many people I have spoken to say they have felt wiped out for a couple of weeks by it.

My day job this week has been focused on managing some changes to emails that gets sent out to tell my clients customers that their bills are ready to view on line. All quite simple you would have thought! Not so, my client keeps changing his mind at the last moment and as this is part of a huge commercial system it has to be carefully tested and planned in with dozens of other changes happening at the same time.

Another project involves transfer of personal information and you will be glad to know that it will all be encrpted and secure before transfer. Just as well after I have been quoted in the media this week as saying the government needs to adopt the same best practices followed by the IT industry. None of this is difficult, it just needs a degree of respect for the data concerned, something I feel has been lacking by our government departments.

I was disappointed this week that Gordon Brown has announced a whole set of Nuclear Power Stations to be built. I notice that these will be built at current sites and these are all based in areas of low population. That must say something.

Now the arguments for Nuclear Power include, low carbon footprint, less reliance on foreign power and that in 60 years the industry must have moved on and be more safe and efficient.

All valid arguments, though my two concerns are that it is massively expensive, surely we could spend the same money on the Severn Barrage we have been talking about for the past 30 years, or invest in kick starting a new British Industry in state of the art renewable energy.

The other issue is that the cost of cleaning up radioactive waste currently held in Britain stands at £56billion, that's almost the same as we have put into Northern Rock.

Incidentally Gordon Brown may have no choice but consider Vince Cables calls to nationalise Northern Rock. The British Tax payer has poured £57 Billion into the bank and I for one want to know when I am going to get my money back. To put this into context, I worked out the other day that this is about £2000 each, 1/4 of the income tax paid by the average tax payer last year!

Christmas in Warwick

2007-12-29T15:20:00.000Z

I’ve had a mixed Christmas so far. It started well, meeting up for long overdue drinks with Neil and Kelly who moved back to Warwick a few months back. I spent Christmas day with Sarah and her delightful children. Boxing Day I took Sarah and my two teenage sons to visit my sister Ruth and her family in Worcestershire. I then went down with the flu, which has left me with a nasty cough, so I spent most of the 27th on the sofa with a duvet watching endless Christmas TV repeats.

Yesterday I had a huge office cull, sorted out a years worth of papers and loaded the shredder with a bin liner full of papers. No data security scandal for me this year.

Sarah has come to stay for a couple of days. In exchange for cooking breakfast she offered to vacuum the house and has got totally carried away and is now rearranging my entire house, throwing away years of accumulated debris. She has washed shelves that have not been cleaned since, well since I got involved in Politics. Not that I am sexist you understand, in a spirit of equality I even bought her a tool kit for Christmas so she could take full advantage of the new Ikea that has just opened in Coventry. It’s only been open a couple of weeks and she has already been there three times.

I find this time of year a cleansing experience, clear the decks from the previous year, plan for the new, ready to start on a whole new set of challenges, adventures and goals for 2008.
I wish all my friends, family and people in my hometowns of Warwick & Leamington a fantastic new year.

Nick Clegg

2007-12-18T17:22:00.000Z

Today Nick Clegg was elected as the new Leader of the Liberal Democrats. This was a close run contest and a tough choice at times. I supported Nick for the leadership as I felt he has what it takes to really engage with people who may currently be disillusioned with politics.

I have heard Nick speak on many occasions and I believe he has what it takes to excite people in politics, he certainly excites me. People are switched off by politics becoming more remote, more controlled by Westminster and they feel powerless. Labour and the Conservatives have little new to offer and there is no longer any choice between them. Less and less people are voting and quite frankly I don’t blame them.

With Nick Clegg the Liberal Democrats will give people an alternative, we will make liberalism connect with people in Warwick & Leamington who share our values, but do not yet vote for us. Under Nick’s leadership we will campaign to give people more say in the decisions that affect us all.

Another Warwick Post Office Faces Closure

2007-12-15T14:14:00.000Z

Another careless data leak has caused embarrassment for Post Office officials as it reveals secret plans to close yet more Post Offices in Warwickshire including West Street in Warwick.

The post office website intended to show Post Offices planned for closure in the East Midlands where consultation is underway, yet the map also shows other areas of the midlands including Warwick. I managed to get hold of a copy of the map and have published part of it on our Local Lib-Dem Website.

This Post Office is at the heart of a thriving community and is yet another nail in the coffin for local retailers in this unique part of the town. Lib-Dem proposals would enable Post Offices to invest in new business that would meet the needs of the people they serve. The government have already closed 11 post offices in the area over the past eight years rather than take long term strategic decisions which will secure the future of these vital services.

Our Post Office network could be the heart of local communities, providing a whole range of services as they do in other countries. Instead the Government has shown no imagination and has allowed the whole network to become unprofitable and derelict.

If you would like to protest against the closure of our post offices, I have a petition running on our Local Lib-Dem website and I plan to do more on this next year and as the consultation process kicks in for our area. At least the bungled map has given us some time to prepare to fight this closure.

Warwickshire Schoolchildren’s data goes Missing

2007-12-05T13:09:00.000Z

It looks as though our national government is not the only one who has been loosing data. Warwickshire County Council has lost personal information about 175 schoolchildren, some from Leamington.

It is simply unacceptable that the personal details of Warwickshire children have gone missing. This must be a real concern to the parents & children affected.

In my work as an IT Project Manager, I deal with many clients that handle sensitive data. Through good practice and common sense such incidents should never happen. My Mother, who worked for the civil service in the 1960's told me that they would hand deliver sensitive information tied up with pink string and sealing wax. Industry practice recommends registered mail as a minimum.

Recent cases of data going missing, including details of our children not only demonstrates sloppy working practice, it shows contempt for the value of our personal information.

1.6 million UK children 'homeless'

2007-11-29T12:42:00.000Z

I watched a program last night about homeless Children. There were 250,000 homeless children in March this year. Some of the families featured were victims of nothing more than a failure of the authorities to talk to each other and sort out the paperwork.

Regardless of the circumstances this is an issue that has devastating effects on the families. Schoolwork is affected. Children are scared of what will happened to them. The threat of going into care hanging over their heads.

Little things we do not realise about this problem. How do families eat in Bed and Breakfast accommodation. Some families are living on a diet of pot noodles, while another lived by heating tins of beans on the radiator.

The program highlighted to me just how flimsy the processes in place to address this problem are.

Some of these families were working, although on a minimum wage. There is something seriously wrong if working families are denied the opportunity for decent homes for their families.

Pink String and Sealing Wax

2007-11-27T16:20:00.000Z

I got an email from my Mom this morning, a concept I am still getting to grips with. In it she recalls how data was sent from Government departments when she was in the civil service.

"Seriously, what idiots sent these discs off. When I worked in government departments important post was put in stiff manilla envelopes, then the proverbial 'pink string and sealing wax' was applied. Yes, literally, pink strong tape and the knot sealed with hot sealing wax. It was then taken by taxi by a member of staff across London and signed for at the other end. Accomplished very quickly - No Mess."

It got me thinking, this is not so much an issue of technology, its more contempt for the value of the information being transferred.

More Labour Party Funding Shocks.

2007-11-26T22:56:00.000Z

There is another storm at the moment about donations to the Labour party.

The Labour general secretary Peter Watt, has resigned after it was revealed that a businessman made donations of over £600,000 to the party via three other people.

The Labour official said that he had known about the arrangement and that he had no idea that there was anything wrong with this.

I cannot believe that the Labour official did not know this was against the rules. Electoral Law is basic stuff for anyone active in Politics. The Labour party must have the same type of training available that we have in the Liberal Democrats.

The law governing donations is there to make sure that everybody can see who has been donating money to political parties. This helps to make sure that this is not in return for favours later on.

This is as fundamental as learning that you should not go through a red light when you are taking driving lessons.

Perhaps what Peter Watt really meant is that he did not think he would get caught.

A calamitous week for the British Public

2007-11-21T10:38:00.001Z

Its been a calamitous week for the British Public.

We have each put £900 pounds of our taxes into Northern Rock something in the region of £20-30 Billion and it looks as though we may not get our money back. Yesterday it was revealed that the Government had lost a CD containing the personal details of 25 Million People.
Perhaps only Nick Clegg can save us from this calamity.

Packmores Trees & Community Base

2007-11-12T22:40:00.000Z

I popped into the Packmores area residents meeting this evening. The main discussion were the tree's in some of the nearby roads. Listening to the residents and looking at the trees and pavements its easy to see the cause of the problem.

If you look at the trees its clear they used to be cropped to about half their current height. Some years ago funding was cut and this stopped. The trees have grown and this has caused problems with leaves clogging gutters, blocking light into homes and the roots have grown bringing up the pavements.

People in this road feel that the council has neglected them. Years of cost cutting has resulted in additional costs elsewhere in pavement repairs and unblocking gutterings and drains.

The most exciting news from the meeting were the plans for a new community base in the area, which will include space for surgeries, small training sessions, mums and toddler group, and a workers base in the old sheds area under Sussex court. This will provide a real focus for the area and I will post more about this as plans develop.

Phil Bennion gets to #2 on European List.

2007-11-11T17:50:00.000Z

I had some great news yesterday. The results of the Selection for the West Midlands European List were counted.

Now that the selection is over I can be more public in my support for Phil Bennion. I supported Phil as his campaign manager during this contest because I believe that Phil has the Experience, Expertise and Vision to make an excellent MEP, representing the West Midlands in the European Parliament.

I have worked with Phil over the past 12 months and accompanied him on a visit to the European Parliament for briefings with some of our current MEP's in June. Phil plays a leading role in our European Party and is well respected in Brussels and in the West Midlands.

So I was especially pleased that Phil was selected into the number 2 position on our list, which gives him a really good chance of success in the European Elections in 2009.

There has been a lot of debate in recent months about the future of the European Union. Phil's vision for Europe is clear. Europe must step up to the issues that affect us in the 21st Century.

· Addressing Climate Change
· Facing the challenge of Globalisation
· Combating Terrorism and Organised Crime
· Securing Liberalised Trade

As the candidate already working at the heart of European Politics, Phil is best placed to stand up for our Liberal values within the European Union, make the case for Europe campaigning in our region and fight for the reform that is needed if Europe is to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.

I wish all our candidates the best in the campaign for 2009.

Photo:- Alan Beddow with Phil Bennion at the Launch of Leamington SPAce earlier this summer.

Tea to the people

2007-11-06T16:42:00.000Z

I have been working out of a large office near Winchester for a couple of months now. This particular office has negotiated a catering contract with a national organisation. They operate the canteen, vending machines and small retail outlets around the site. As we are situated in the middle of nowhere, with no nearby retail alternatives the catering company is effectively operating a cartel.

Although the building I work in has a rest area, it seems none of us can be trusted with a kettle. It is not as if the people working on this site lack the necessary intellect and motor skills to be able to operate such complex equipment. Many here have engineering & computer science degrees. Some of the leading inventions in IT have come out of this place, including the very first hard drive.

So for our own safety kettles are prohibited. The conspiracy theorists amongst the workers (and there are many) suspect this is a plot to maximise the market for the catering cartel and some have suggested their employer may be taking a cut.

Someone working here full time could easily spend over £1000 a year on tea and coffee alone and whilst I am only here a few days a week for about 6 months I do have some sympathy.

Imagine my admiration for the resoluteness of the workforce when I went into the rest area the other week and saw that someone had set up an ‘illicit independent tea enclave’ Someone had gone out and purchased two microwave kettles (we do have microwaves) a box of tea, milk & sugar and had put up a sign declaring an independent ‘Tea Coop’ and inviting people to make donations of needed commodities.

So now we are free from the oppression of the catering cartel (Junta) and can make our own tea and coffee, the only risk we face is from superheated water, which is what happens if we leave it in the microwave too long. The provisional peoples government of the ‘Independent Tea Enclave’ have issued a public safety directive (printed out a web page highlighting the risks and pinned it to the wall) and so all will be well until the military police (health and safety) find out and the microwave ovens are declared enemies of the state (unsafe) and taken from us.

Do we want more Supermarkets?

2007-11-01T11:25:00.000Z

Yesterday the Competition Commission called for a revamp of the planning system to allow more supermarkets to open in some areas of the UK.

The Commission seemed to be more concerned with allowing more competition between the major supermarkets and less concerned with the impact this would have on independent retailers and our town centres.

I am concerned that this will add weight to the proposed change to the 'Supermarket Needs Test' that would give local authorities less power to assess whether a supermarket is needed in a community.

As I said in an earlier blog we have a diverse selection of independent shops in Warwick & Leamington and a balance of supermarkets on the whole, where they are needed. I am concerned that if this is unfettered we could end up with our towns ringed with supermarkets, trade sucked out of the town centres and the District Council powerless to do anything about it.

This is part of the drift of power away from our local council towards Westminster which risks making British towns soul-less clones of each other.